WSJ2020 expected to produce $100 million in cost savings

Here are comments made about The Wall Street Journal during the News Corp. earnings conference call Thursday afternoon:

Chief executive officer Robert Thomson:

Audiences are craving integrity, which is why so many of our markets have reported strong growth in readers and subscribers. As an example, The Wall Street Journal experienced a significant increase in page digital subscribers through the election, adding more than 110,000 in Q2 compared to Q1 and surpassing 1 million now representing more than 50% of the total subscriber base.

…At Dow Jones, well advertising remains challenged to business continue to drive higher circulation revenues through increased digital subscriptions and higher pricing. Work on the WSJ2020 initiative continues as we accelerate change the cost structure, and management of the business to align it more closely with the digital and mobile future.

Chief financial officer Bedi Singh:

Looking now at performance across our key units, at Dow Jones total ad revenue declined around 20% similar to the prior quarter rate as the Wall Street Journal continue to face challenges in several ad categories including business to consumer, finance and technology. Circulation revenues at Dow Jones grew 6%, driven by higher subscription pricing and higher digital paid subscribers. And professional information business revenues were relatively stable with the prior year similar to last quarter.

And as we mentioned last quarter, Dow Jones has begun the implementation of cost savings initiatives under its WSJ2020 plan with a target of approximately 8% or $100 million in cost savings on an annualized basis by the end of fiscal 2018. We continue to expect a pre-tax restructuring charge of $50 million to $60 million for this fiscal year including $17 million that was reflected in this quarter.

Read the entire transcript here.