Far Eastern Economic Review will now be a monthly

Dow Jones & Company announced on Thursday that the Far Eastern Economic Review will change its format from a newsweekly to a monthly magazine of issues and ideas - largely written by Asian opinion leaders from the fields of politics, business and academics. The first issue of the Review in its new format will be published this December.

Dow Jones chairman and CEO Peter R. Kann said, "The format change will mark the start of a new chapter in the Review's 58-year history, even as we devote more of our collective focus, efforts and resources to further growing the market-leading Asian Wall Street Journal as the Dow Jones flagship in Asia, and as an integral component of the global Wall Street Journal franchise."

In announcing the format change, Kann explained that nearly all other advertising-dependent newsweeklies based in Asia already have succumbed to competition from more immediate media alternatives, and that as a weekly, the Review had lost money for the past six years. He expressed confidence in the business model for the new monthly Review, which will continue to accept select advertising, but rely primarily on circulation to a loyal and highly influential readership across Asia.

Kann added that he regrets the loss of 80 jobs that will come as a result of the changeover to a monthly format. The job losses represent about 10% of the Company's total Asia-based employees.