Dow Jones will be launching a new shopping site branded WSJ in 2022 according to an all-staff email sent by Dow Jones CEO Almar Latour. The site, referred to as the “WSJ Commerce Initiative” will operate outside the WSJ newsroom and report to Josh Stinchcomb, chief revenue officer for Dow Jones and The Wall Street Journal. The editor and head of content will be Leslie Yazel, who is moving from the WSJ newsroom where she worked on SEO and strategy. Dow Jones has also hired Adam Burakowski from Insider and who previously worked at the Wirecutter for four years, according to the email.
The WSJ notoriously does not accept affiliate revenue for the products it features in articles, and the email did not indicate that this would change, instead the project will operate outside of the newsroom.
“The WSJ commerce initiative will have its own content team and set of standards that will be separate from our current newsrooms, while rooted in our values and code of conduct. Leslie will be closely working with Matt Murray, Daniel Bernard, Aaron Kissel and Emma Moody to ensure the new site lives up to the reputation of The Wall Street Journal while differentiating its work from the newsroom,” the email said.
Dow Jones has posted several additional positions for the initiative including one for writers. The positions require journalism experience and suggest that the “likely categories” will be personal finance, personal technology, consumer products and lifestyle goods. The site is set to launch in 2022.
Wirecutter went on strike in November in advance of Black Friday amid contract negotiations with The New York Times’ management.
