Wall Street Journal publisher to cut jobs

Dow Jones and Co, publisher of the Wall Street Journal and its online version, is set to cut an unspecified number of jobs, after announcing on Wednesday that its profits for the first quarter of 2001 will be less than half what analysts expected.

Analysts believe that its online services could be the first victim. The company blamed declining revenue from advertising sales in the US. It said that its earnings are now expected to be between 16 cents (11p) and 20 cents per share, compared to earlier predictions of 56 cents per share.

Shares in Dow Jones fell by six percent in early trading in America.

Dow Jones announced that sales of adverts in the Wall Street Journal are expected to be between 25 percent and 30 percent lower in Q1 2001, as the US newspaper sector suffers an economic slowdown.

A company spokesman explained that the majority of the job cuts would be achieved by not replacing retiring staff. However, precise details of the number of jobs lost were not available.

Dow Jones is the latest content provider to struggle in increasingly difficult conditions. The New York Times, a rival to the Wall Street Journal, cut 69 jobs from its online division in January, and last month CNN axed 400 employees from its international operations.

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