As part of its dogged attempt bring the New York Times to its knees, the Wall Street Journal is slashing its subscription prices by as much as 80%. As it prepares to unveil its "Times-killing" city edition on April 12th, the WSJ has sent offers for a $10 a month subscription (about 1/4 of the average Times subscription) to some Times subscribers. Reuters also reports a similar $2.29 a week subscription offer for people who sign up online.
So will it work? Maybe not. Ex-Miami Herald executive editor Tom Fiedler said, "History hasn't been kind to (price cuts). It rarely is successful in the long run. Whether this is just ego on the part of Rupert Murdoch, I can't know. It looks like that." Murdoch has had a long-standing feud with the Times, recently escalating when the Gray Lady poached a Journal arts reporter. The city edition is the biggest part in the $30 million overhaul of the newspaper, and was reportedly created to steal "high-end retailers, luxury goods makers and residential real estate companies...that have traditionally preferred The Times." Murdoch smash!
