BizJournals Portfolio
Home >   Business Views, Opinions and Blogs >   Business Blogs >   Market Movers >  

Murdochs Wsjcom Ambitions

Market Movers

by Felix Salmon
Main
Holiday Party Datapoint of the Day   Wall Street: Still Insanely Profitable

Recent Blog Posts

Links

Nov 13 2007 12:00am EDT

Murdoch's WSJ.com Ambitions

Does Rupert Murdoch think he can double or even treble the number of visitors to WSJ.com if when he makes the site free? Don't be silly. He's much more ambitious than that:

Rupert Murdoch, the chairman of the News Corporation, said today that he intended to make access to The Wall Street Journal’s Web site free, trading subscription fees for anticipated ad revenue.
“We are studying it and we expect to make that free, and instead of having one million, having at least 10 million-15 million in every corner of the earth,” Mr. Murdoch said, referring to The Journal’s online readership.

This is entirely doable – although it will involve more than just removing the subscription firewall. At the moment the WSJ's website is atrociously designed, and a revolutionary (not evolutionary) soup-to-nuts redesign is long overdue. Murdoch definitely intends for the WSJ to compete with the NYT, it would be a great day for all internet users if wsj.com became as beautiful and easy to use as nytimes.com.

. □

blog comments powered by Disqus
Real Business, Real Results
Out of the 'Family'

Did anyone at Microsoft ever watch the (gasp!) offensively funny show Family Guy?

Cruz Missile Lands

Ex-Morgan Stanley exec Zoe Cruz is now heading her own hedge fund. Are Wall Street's leaders done?

Scandal Chic

Martha, Bernie and Skilling know that what you wear for court can go a long way in public perception.

spotlight on

Health Care

Bad to the Bone No More

Companies such as General Mills say they're stepping up efforts to change employees' bad behavior and promote healthier lifestyles. Read More