WSJ launch nears 1m globally

Hong Kong – The Wall Street Journal will launch 80,000 copies of its global luxury title WSJ in Asia starting September.

In a bid to bring luxury advertisers back into its daily business publication, Dow Jones, owner of The Wall Street Journal, will distribute close to 1 million copies of the high-end WSJ magazine to subscribers in the United States, Europe and Asia.

The magazine, conceived prior to News Corporation’s takeover of Dow Jones, will first launch as a quarterly and will become to a monthly publication in 2009.

Ellen Asmodeo-Giglio, formerly senior vice president and publisher of Travel + Leisure magazine, has been named vice president & publisher of WSJ and will oversee all advertising and marketing initiatives for WSJ and develop strategies to drive revenue through print, online, other digital properties and strategic partnerships.

In Hong Kong, Dow Jones has already appointed editorial and advertising staff.

WSJ will primarily target the automotive industry, fashion houses, property and travel companies.

Olivier Legrand, Dow Jones marketing director, said the magazine will chase a “very wealthy readership” of affluent consumers and business decision makers. He said initial response to the magazine from advertisers had been very positive.

“We already have an idea of advertisers we’re going after and it looks quite good,” Legrand said.

The first issue of the magazine is expected to roll out from 6 September.