What Company Owns the Wall Street Journal?

The Wall Street Journal is among the most widely known American newspapers today, along with the New York Times and Chicago Tribune. Like its nearest competitors, the Wall Street Journal started as a small newsletter at the beginning of the modern print media age. Rupert Murdoch took ownership of the newspaper when his News Corporation media company bought Dow Jones Corporation, the paper's parent company, in 2008.

Identification

The Wall Street Journal is a financial and news publication printed in newspaper format. The Wall Street Journal has daily American editions as well as Asian and European editions.

The Origins

The newspaper started as the "Customers' Afternoon Letter" in 1883. It was started by Charles Dow, Edward Jones and Charles Bergstresser on Wall Street in New York City.

The Modern Paper

Today's version of the newspaper was created by Dow Jones in 1889. Dow Jones and Company became a corporation in 1900, with the newspaper owned by the corporation.

The Bancroft Family

The Bancroft family inherited controlling interest of Dow Jones from Clarence W. Barron in 1928. In 2008, the Bancroft family still owned 68% of the voting stock.

News Corporation

News Corporation bought Dow Jones in 2008 for $5 billion. It is owned by Rupert Murdoch and is an international media holding company.

Resources

• Dow Jones Website - History
• Newscorp Website - Newspapers