Anyone for a free Wall Street Journal?
Rupert Murdoch's plans for the Wall Street Journal include spreading the publication to the far corners of the world. Stephen Beard reports he's working towards that goal by making subscriptions to the WSJ website free.
A woman sits outside of the Wall Street Journal office in Manhattan. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)
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Doug Krizner: Rupert Murdoch has unveiled ambitious plans for the Wall Street Journal. His company, News Corp, is expected to complete the purchase of the Journal's publisher, Dow Jones, before the end of the year. And Murdoch is wasting no time in spreading the Journal to every corner of the Earth. From London, Stephen Beard reports.
Stephen Beard: Murdoch is due to take possession of the publisher of the Wall Street Journal next month. Today in Australia, he spelt out some of his plans.
He said he would like to make access to the Journal's website free. Instead of 1 million paying subscribers, he said he expects to attract up to 15 million users from all over the world.
Adrian Monck of City University in London:
Adrian Monck: I think it's interesting when he talks about "every corner of the globe." I think that's definitely code for the Asian business news market. I think we'll definitely see the Wall Street Journal making an impact there.
Monck says that extra advertising revenue from the site should easily replace subscription fees.
Today, Murdoch said that throughout his empire, advertising spending was so far unaffected by the global credit crunch. But he warned there could be setbacks in the year ahead.
In London, this is Stephen Beard for Marketplace.
