Wall Street Journal Closes International Print Editions

Digital subscriptions to The Wall Street Journal were up 26 percent year-over-year to 948,
AFP/File Karen Bleier

The Wall Street Journal newspaper will no longer print its newspapers in Europe and Asia, it has announced.

According to the Journal, declining sales and falling advertising revenues are the main factors behind the decision, as the publication will now seek to expand its online presence in the region.

The final European edition of the paper was printed on Friday, while the last edition of the Asian version will be next week:

The decision is just one of a number of retrenchment initiatives undertaken by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp, which delivered a loss of $643 million last year amid falling print sales and subscriptions.

In the second quarter of this year, sales of the journal across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa fell from 59,000 to 49,000, while sales in the Asia-Pacific region fell from 45,000 from 54,000.

Meanwhile, the U.S. edition still maintains sales of more than one million copies, although that number is also falling as readers turn to digital alternatives. The Journal is one of many publications to use a paywall, with readers unable to access any content without a paid subscription.

However, the Journal is by far the only publication to be shifting its focus. In June of this year, the New York Times revealed it would cut up to 70 jobs as part of a digital restructuring program at the company.

Follow Ben Kew on Facebook, Twitter at @ben_kew, or email him at bkew@breitbart.com.

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