From: Thomson, Robert
To: WSJ All News Staff
Sent: Tue Jul 27 11:01:44 2010
Subject: Deborah Needleman

To All:

I am delighted to announce the appointment of Deborah Needleman to a
newly created role in which she will serve as editor-in-chief of WSJ.
magazine and editor of a new weekly Saturday lifestyle section, about
which we must necessarily be somewhat discreet, for now.

Deborah - who was founding editor of domino magazine - will succeed
Tina Gaudoin at WSJ., which has thrived as other magazines have
struggled during the downturn. The content of the new Saturday section
will complement that of the magazine, so Deborah will be able to
exercise her knowing eye and refined taste in overseeing and
developing both publications.

There have been sightings of Deborah on the fourth floor in New York,
as she has been consulting on the soon-to-be-launched section. She has
shown in her past work that glossies need not be panglossian, and the
new section will have a sensibility that separates it qualitatively
from the competition.

As we welcome Deborah, we should also recognize Tina's significant
achievements. To sculpt a successful magazine in such harsh economic
conditions is remarkable. Tina will begin her new role as contributing
editor for style and fashion for The Wall Street Journal Europe in
London after polishing the September and October issues. Upon assuming
her new role on September 1, Deborah, who will report to Mike Miller,
will begin fashioning the December issue.

Please join me in welcoming Deborah and lauding Tina.

Robert.

Ms. Needleman replaces Tina Gaudoin, who ran WSJ. since it launched in 2008 until this summer, when she stepped down to return to Europe to work on fashion coverage for the Journal.

Here's the release:

NEW YORK, July 27, 2010 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Wall Street Journal has named Deborah Needleman to a newly created role in which she will serve as editor in chief of WSJ., the Journal's glossy lifestyle magazine, and editor of a new weekly Saturday lifestyle section in development for the Journal for the fall.

Effective September 1, Ms. Needleman, founding editor of domino magazine for Condé Nast, will oversee all editorial content in the magazine while also managing the new lifestyle section, for which she has been serving as a consultant. Ms. Needleman will report to Mike Miller, senior deputy managing editor of the Journal.

"Deborah has shown in the originality, professionalism and energy of her development work in recent months that she is the perfect person to lead the next phase of the magazine's expansion and to create a Saturday section unique in both character and content," said Robert Thomson, editor in chief of Dow Jones & Company and managing editor of The Wall Street Journal.

"I am thrilled to be taking on this role at the Journal," said Ms. Needleman. "There is great momentum and energy at the paper, and a mandate for innovation, and I am excited to be a part of it."

WSJ. magazine launched in September 2008 and provides the Journal's notable take on fashion, art, travel, philanthropy, architecture, food and more, and offers unparalleled access to industry leaders and newsmakers. WSJ. appears globally six times per year as part of the Journal's Weekend Edition and is distributed to a U.S. circulation of 1.5 million, with an additional circulation of 160,000 outside the U.S. in copies of The Wall Street Journal Europe and The Wall Street Journal Asia.

The next issue of WSJ. magazine is scheduled to appear on Saturday, September 11, with issues to follow in October and December. Content from WSJ. is available online via WSJ.com/magazine.

The short list of replacements, according to WWD:

Among those said to be in the running are Marie Claire editor in chief Joanna Coles, as well as Jay Fielden, former editor of Men's Vogue, Horacio Silva, online director of T: The New York Times Style Magazine, Julie L. Belcove, the former deputy editor of W and Deborah Needleman, the former Domino editor.

The glossy also lost its executive editor Owen Philips earlier this week to The Hollywood Reporter, but the editor will likely pick his or her own number two.

Ms. Needleman has to be the favorite, and she is probably the biggest name. She is already at work on a weekend lifestyle section for the Journal, and Mr. Thomson would like to see the magazine pursue female readers more aggressively, according to WWD sources. There is also talk of increasing the magazine's frequency. Given her experience, Ms. Needleman would be more than comfortable leading both of these charges.

In Sarah Ellison's War at the Wall Street Journal, Rupert Murdoch spends one of his first days at the Journal's office looking at mock-ups for the magazine. He said that he got the idea to add a weekend fashion magazine after watching his wife Wendi page through similar magazines just to look at the ads.

"We wanted to produce more than a catalog of things to buy," Ms. Gaudoin told the audience at the launch of the fall of 2008. "We wanted to respect the audience's respect for money."

Ms. Needleman said that she wanted to marry irreverence and utility in the new lifestyle weekend section. "It needs to be a pleasure to read and to look at, but you really have to get something out of it," she told Ad Age last month.

A spokesperson for the Journal told the Observer earlier this week that there was no timetable yet for replacing Ms. Gaudoin.

Sally Singer, who was hired from Vogue to replace Stefano Tonchi, won't be coming into the office until after Labor Day, according to Frank DiGiacomo. By the time Ms. Singer comes in,  T will have been without an editor in the office for more than three months.

One Times staffer told Mr. DiGiacomo that the move will allow Ms. Singer to rethink the magazine without dealing with a staff that is anxious to avoid house-cleaning cuts. A summer vacation sounds nice, too.

By the time Singer starts, WSJ., The Journal's answer to T, might have a new editor. Tina Gaudoin announced her resignation this week, according to Memo Pad, effective after the September and October issues close.

“It was just not sustainable," said Ms. Gaudoin of the job, citing personal reasons for the change. 

Ms. Gaudoin's husband works in London, and she will join him there in August. She will stay on The Journal's masthead as a contributing editor, working on fashion coverage for the European edition.