Phillips, longtime Dow Jones CEO, dies at 92

Warren Phillips, who was CEO of Wall Street Journal parent Dow Jones & Co. from 1975 to 1990 and earlier a journalist at the paper, died Friday at 92.

James Hagerty of The Journal writes, “Mr. Phillips was CEO of Dow Jones from 1975 until the end of 1990. He retired as chairman of the company in July 1991. News Corp has owned Dow Jones since December 2007.

“The Journal’s circulation under Mr. Phillips topped two million, and the newspaper expanded to three sections. But corporate cost-cutting in the 1980s hurt sales as big companies eliminated many middle managers with subscriptions. The Journal adapted by increasing its coverage in areas such as technology, law, advertising, personal finance, careers and the arts.

“In the early 1970s, Mr. Phillips traveled to China with a group of American editors. While seeking insights into what was then a deeply unfamiliar country to many in the West, he also began thinking about ways to expand Dow Jones into Asia. His news reports were later combined with others by Robert Keatley, a China correspondent for the Journal, into a 1973 book called ‘China: Behind the Mask.'”

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