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Wall Street Journal closes UK-based Europe edition as focus switches from print ads to digital subs

By Dominic Ponsford

News Corp has scrapped the print edition of the Wall Street Journal in Europe some 24 years after it was launched.

The title is also to drop its Asia print edition, which launched in 1976.

The move comes amid a reorganisation of the title’s global editorial structure in response to continued pressure on print advertising.

The London-based Europe edition peaked at around 100,000 copies per day at around the turn of the millennium. But it has always relied heavily on free bulk copies.

The latest ABC certificate for 2016 shows a average daily circulation of 58,788 for the Europe edition, of which just under 5,000 were subscription and newsstand sales. The rest were bulks and give aways.

Overall parent company News Corp reported operating profit (EBITDA) of $414m for its news and information services division in the year to the end of June 2017. Turnover for the year was down 5 per cent year on year at $5.1bn.

In the fourth quarter, to the end of June 2017, News Corp reported advertising revenue down 12 per cent (or $86m) due to the weakness of print advertising.

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Wall Street Journal parent company Dow Jones was said to have seen a 10 per cent increase in circulation revenue.

Digital subscribers for the Wall Street Journal were said to total 1,270,000 in the three months to 30 June 2017 (compared with 948,000 in the same period a year earlier).

In 2015 the Wall Street Journal Europe switched back to broadsheet after ten years as a tabloid.

The final Europe edition will be published today with the Asia print edition to end next week.

Wall Street Journal Europe edition editor Thorold Baker pictured above in 2015 following the broadsheet relaunch.

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