And so it appears that Dow Jones is again restructuring in Asia, this time cutting five people from the consumer media division, including Greater China MD Douglas Mulcock.
For seasoned media-watchers in Asia, turbulence at DowJones is nothing new. In recent years, the company has slashed the Far Eastern Economic Review and relaunched the The Wall Street Journal Asia (WSJA) as a tabloid. But the latest round of cuts has again raised questions about the latter publication’s eventual future in Asia. With US management seemingly hellbent on cutting costs, how much longer will the WSJA last?
Dow Jones currently trades around the US$42 mark, but the company’s US chiefs are understood to be on the warpath in a bid to boost its share price to around $55 to $60. A mindset that is focused more on short-term gain, rather than long-term revenue growth is unlikely to ever fully harness growth in Asia.
To be fair to Dow Jones, a strong 2006 helped the company back into the black after several years of financial instability. And some savvy sales moves, such as integrating online and print and offering localised advertising opportunities have won the publication respect from advertisers.
But in an environment where many still question the viability of pan-Asian media, the WSJA has its work cut out in the battle against the Financial Times and the International Herald Tribune. The heavily-touted tabloid relaunch has not improved matters as much as hoped, with several media agencies noting that the title now appears considerably more lightweight than its peers.
As one source notes, the latest moves indicate that the company is cutting muscle, rather than fat. Over the next year, we are likely to see exactly how strong Dow Jones Asia really is.
MediaCorp’s move not an agency threat
Singapore’s ad agencies may raise eyebrows that the country’s biggest media owner is bolstering its in-house creative services unit with the hire of a new executive creative director. Could MediaCorp be encroaching further on to their turf?
The answer is probably no. Alan Seah has a tough enough task ahead pulling together MediaCorp’s various divisions in his new role — which doesn’t leave much time to produce enough advertising that agencies should feel threatened by. Seah’s appoint-ment is only bad news for rival SPH, not ad agencies.