Newspaperman: Inside the News Business at The Wall Street Journal

CHAPTER 24European Beachheads

IN THE EARLY 1970S, my colleagues and I at Dow Jones began exploring expansion into Europe’s markets. Business and investments were becoming more international, as were the information needs of American and foreign readers. Because the Financial Times and the International Herald Tribune presented formidable competition in Europe, much more so than in Asia, we began by seeking to acquire established local-language European business newspaper publishers. When this produced more colorful adventures than successful ventures, we then proceeded on our own and began publication of a European edition of the Journal, The Wall Street Journal Europe.

The initial explorations were led by Don Macdonald, Dow Jones’s chief marketing ...