Dow Jones to sell newswires through WSJ.com

Dow Jones & Co. plans to sell its newswires content and all of its content to financial institutions directly through The Wall Street Journal website, according to a story from Jennifer Saba at Reuters.

Saba writes, “Fenwick’s ambitions to sell directly to financial institutions is a change in strategy for Dow Jones. It comes at a critical juncture for Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp, which is preparing to spin off its slower-growing publishing assets from the more lucrative film studio, cable and broadcast TV networks.

“As newspapers around the world suffer sharp drop-offs in advertising sales, the standalone publishing company will need to bolster its business with financial institutions and other companies to drive growth.

“Fenwick said he intends to raise prices for the newswires, whether customers get them through WSJ.com or through market data platforms sold by Bloomberg, Thomson Reuters, FactSet Research Systems Inc and Interactive Data Corp.

“That could be a tough sell given that many Wall Street banks, whose profitability has been sagging, are currently cutting staff and seeking to save costs.”

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