William Lewis, the CEO of Dow Jones & Co. and publisher of The Wall Street Journal, sent the following note to the staff on Monday:
Dear Colleague,
I believe our future success depends on our appetite for bold and brave moves. Today, The Wall Street Journal enters into a partnership with Apple that will dramatically expand the reach of the Journal’s trusted and groundbreaking journalism.
We have a history of innovation at WSJ. In the 1940s, the Journal redefined its mission with the view that news was no longer what happened yesterday, instead it would include issues, trends and notables that were reshaping business and society for the future. Dow Jones also pioneered the use of satellites to send news pages in order to make a daily newspaper on a national scale. In 1996, we launched our paywall; in 2016 we successfully implemented a dynamic paywall. Some questioned and criticized these decisions at the time, only to follow in our footsteps.
Our product offering for Apple News+ is designed to drive scale among new readers. This is yet another example of our market – and thought – leadership. It is the sort of leadership that has driven conversation and action around premium news consumption for more than 125 years.
WSJ members will continue to have exclusive access to the rich business reporting and analysis about which they are so passionate. Apple News+ introduces an entirely new category of readers who will have the opportunity to experience a specially curated collection of general interest news from The Wall Street Journal. As a result, our newsroom will grow. This is an investment in quality journalism.
While today’s announcement focuses on Apple News+, our collaboration with Apple will also extend to areas like video, voice, market data and AI. I will have more to share on those plans in the coming weeks and months.
There is a lot to discuss, and I am sure you will have questions. You will soon receive an invitation to an All Hands meeting later this afternoon. I hope you will join myself, Matt Murray and Suzi Watford to learn more.
I’m so proud that millions more people will be reading, and benefiting from, the unparalleled reporting and analysis from the Journal every day.
Best,
