By: Staff Reports Dow Jones Cites Advertising Climate As Reason For Delay
Dow Jones & Co. has put the brakes on the launch of WeekendJournal.com, which
was to be available for free online later this year.
The site was to feature the Friday arts and style section from The Wall
Street Journal. But Richard Tofel, spokesman at Dow Jones & Co., said that
the overall advertising climate, for both print and online, has made it
difficult to launch something new. The indefinite postponement was first
reported Thursday by SiliconAlleyDaily.com.
"It does not seem like a great moment to launch something," Tofel told E&P
Online. CareerJournal.com and OpinionJournal.com, two free content sites that
preceded WeekendJournal.com, will remain online and operational, he said.
Over the weekend, Dow Jones announced that its joint venture with Excite@Home,
Work.com, will be shut down on March 31. Their site targeted small and medium-
sized businesses with industry news, but again the advertising climate
contributed to its closure.
Despite WSJ.com's pay-for-content model, Dow Jones is still struggling to make
money online. Overall, Dow Jones has predicted missed earnings for the first
quarter and reported a 32.1% decline in advertising linage at the print edition.
Related story:
WORK.com TO CLOSE MARCH 31 (03/13/01)
Copyright 2001, Editor & Publisher.
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