Weak ad sales hit Wall Street Journal

Dow Jones, the parent company of The Wall Street Journal and Barron’s, warned that its third quarter results will be lower than expected because of weak ad sales at the newspaper.

A Reuters story stated, “The lowered forecast comes as Dow Jones marks the first anniversary of the Journal’s Weekend Edition, a Saturday paper designed to broaden the advertising base.

“Dow Jones in July said the edition could break even by the fourth quarter because of higher consumer advertising spending during the holiday season.

“Print advertising at the Journal was up 6.3 percent for the first two months of the quarter, which was in line with the company’s expectations, Chief Executive Rich Zannino said in a statement.

“‘However, September advertising revenue at the journal is running below our expectations and prior year,’ he said.

“A spokesman declined to comment on why advertising revenue is below expectations.”

Read more here. The release can be read here.