By: Joe Strupp A top business-side executive at Dow Jones & Co. said it is premature to assume that The Wall Street Journal Web site will definitely drop its paid subscription model, despite comments by Rupert Murdoch that the change is expected.
"It is jumping the gun, people are jumping to conclusions here very quickly. We haven't even closed the deal yet," said Michael Rooney, senior vice president and chief revenue officer for the company?s consumer media group. "Mr. Murdoch would like to have the largest, most robust site in business. Free is a way to look at that. But there is a lot of detail behind that. You have to work that out. You don't just flip the switch."
Rooney's comments followed reports earlier today that Murdoch had told an audience in Australia that the switch to a free site was expected.
"We are studying it and we expect to make that free, and instead of having one million (subscribers), having at least 10 million to 15 million in every corner of the earth," he said, according to Associated Press, which also reported he believed that a free site, with increased readership for wsj.com, will attract "large numbers" of big-spending advertisers.
Murdoch's News Corp. has signed an agreement to acquire Dow Jones & Co. through a deal expected to close in the fourth quarter. A special shareholders meeting is scheduled for Dec. 13 in New York.
Calls to Journal Publisher L. Gordon Crovitz and Dow Jones CEO Richard Zannino were referred to News Corp. One source told E&P that Dow Jones was not even notified that Murdoch would make such a statement.
"I don't think it is a surprise," Rooney said about Murdoch's comments. "We want to work and be the biggest, but how do we get there? Let's work things all out and make the right business decisions. The details of all of this are being analyzed, how much revenue would we lose?"
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