Wall Street Journal announces expansion plans

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The Wall Street Journal will expand to a Saturday edition in September 2005 that provides readers with business news through Friday's market close, Dow Jones and Co. announced Thursday.

This will include a new section dubbed Pursuits that includes topics such as personal finance, sports and leisure. This builds on themes established by Friday's Weekend Journal and Personal Journal. The goals are to bolster the publication's niche market and allow readers to more thoroughly digest Friday's markets numbers rather than wait until Monday.

“The new Saturday edition of The Wall Street Journal could be a significant profit generator over the long term for Dow Jones,” notes William B. Drewry, an analyst with Credit Suisse First Boston. “The launch in September of 2005 could be propitious, in that the national advertising market should strengthen over the course of 2005 – particularly national print advertising. Profitability within two years is possible and probable.”

The launch will require the Journal to hire 150 additional employees, primarily in news, advertising and sales. There will be no additional cost to subscribers, but it will be sold for $1.50 on Saturday newsstands as opposed to the $1 cost for weekdays.

"I don't think it will have much effect on the industry," says Clytie Bunyan, business editor of The Oklahoman. "But a weekend edition could force newspapers with a Monday section to change their format from a specialized focus to one that includes the latest news. It could also prompt newspapers without a Monday section to add one."

Bunyan says expanding to Saturday might not make much readership sense as far as the typical Monday-Friday reader.

"Saturday is not the best day for getting up and sitting at the breakfast table reading the paper, or grabing the paper as you rush out to work,” she says. “People who already subscribe to WSJ probably will fit it into their routine, but I don't see an overwhelming amount of new subscribers here."

The Journal had halted its Saturday publication in 1953, when Saturday trading on the New York Stock Exchange came to an end.