Dow Jones to publish Wall Street Journal in India

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Dow Jones & Co. Inc. said it would launch a new regional edition of The Wall
Street Journal in India, together with the publisher of the Times of India
newspaper. New York-based Dow Jones will own a 26 per cent stake in the
venture, in keeping with the limits set by India's new rules on foreign
ownership of media assets. Bennett Coleman & Co. Ltd., publisher of the
Times of India as well as The Economic Times in India, will own the
remaining stake. The India edition, set to debut later this year, will be
the fourth international edition of The Wall Street Journal, Dow Jones'
flagship newspaper with a U.S. circulation of more than 2 million. Dow Jones
also publishes the Asian Wall Street Journal, as well as versions in Europe
and Latin America. The Journal's international editions are aimed at local
business readers and international travelers and include content from the
newspaper's main U.S. edition. Bennett Coleman, India's oldest and biggest
media company, recently partnered with BBC Worldwide to publish specialty
magazines in India. Indian journalist Suman Dubey will be the editor of the
newspaper and it will be published five days a week. The move by Dow Jones
follows similar moves by the U.K.'s Financial Times and Australia's AMP
Henderson Global, which both took separate stakes in existing Indian
publications in the past year. It's only since June 2002 that the Indian
government began allowing foreign ownership of news and current affairs
publications, and limited foreigners' stakes to 26%.

Source:
Reuters
24/Jan/2004