WebProNews

Editions in Europe and Asia to adopt tabloid format; some job cuts will also take place in a reorganizational move.

The transition from the familiar broadsheet format to the smaller tabloid version will take place October 17th. Further, the Asian Wall Street Journal will be renamed to Wall Street Journal Asia.

Many of those affected by the job cutting will be reassigned elsewhere within Dow Jones publications to the US side. The need for more staffing on the US Journal coincides with the planned September 17 debut of a Saturday edition of the venerable business paper.

One of the tabloid changes will be fewer stock quotes printed. While a useful reference, modern business readers use the Internet extensively for real-time and delayed stock information; the move should have little impact on readership.

Many papers on the Continent and in Asia have switched to the tabloid format. By being more readable, the Journal hopes to increase its readership and believes that plus the new format will be more attractive to advertisers.

The Journal focuses primarily on business, and its advertising features such attractions to its upscale readership as Jaguar automobiles. An increase in readers will help the publisher to command higher ad rates.

David Utter is a staff writer for WebProNews covering technology and business. Email him here.