New Dow Jones CEO Latour: A reputation for being creative and innovative

Max Willens of Digiday profiled new Dow Jones & Co. CEO Almar Latour, who rose to that spot last week.

Willens writes, “Under Latour, the titles in Barron’s Group began to work together more closely, sharing resources and content while also diversifying their respective businesses. ‘There was this vision of what we could be together,’ an executive at one title said. For example, Barron’s began working more closely with Marketwatch, with the two brands sharing articles with one another, as well as collaborating on a streaming video show, produced in partnership with Nasdaq.

“Latour also set ambitious goals for each brand’s individual success. In addition to robust digital subscriber growth — Barron’s went from 133,000 digital subscriptions in 2016 to more than 299,000 digital subscriptions in 2019, according to SEC filings — Barron’s expanded internationally, debuting events in Switzerland and China.

“Past direct reports say the ambitious goals Latour sets helped fuel the growth. ‘When you’re working to get stuff that’s barely within reach, you have to get creative,’ one former direct report said. ‘That’s why you see a lot of innovation out of his groups.’

“Beyond collaboration, Latour spent years preaching the importance of serving audience and advertiser needs together. Under his watch, all the titles began to look for opportunities to build membership models around communities within their audiences.”

Read more here.