The title - once a major force in Asian journalism - succumbed to competition from "more immediate media alternatives" after enduring six years of losses, Penelope Abernathy, senior vice-president, international and development, The Wall Street Journal, told Media.
"Dow Jones has been very patient, hoping for a comeback, but the conclusion is that the market is not coming back," said Abernathy.
The new format will see the title depend primarily on circulation. "We expect circulation to go down. We want to be supported by subscriptions and will no longer distribute unnecessarily to universities and libraries. Quality over quantity," added Abernathy.
However, industry experts have accused Dow Jones of "mismanaging" the title, citing its "mistaken relaunch" of the magazine as the Review in the late '90s. "This started a whole chain of launches and relaunches, losing readership and advertiser confidence. Overall, FEER's performance on research surveys declined or leveled," said Tess Caven, managing partner, MEC Singapore.
Cyril Pereira, group CEO of Observer Star, described the magazine as commercially successful under the South China Morning Post management in the '80s, during which time it pulled in annual profits of about HK$25 million.
He said the change in management and the subsequent shift in direction under Dow Jones resulted in the title losing its core value to readers.
"Worse, with the internet fever, it morphed into a consumer/tech magazine which completely lost its way."
Meanwhile, former FEER editor, Philip Bowring, wrote a scathing account of the title's demise in the SCMP: "The death of the Review came by a thousand cuts inflicted primarily by Karen House, the emissary from New York, who took over the Review two years after Dow Jones, previously a minority shareholder, acquired 100 per cent of the magazine in 1987."