Dow Jones continued to deliver unique, impactful journalism and information services and achieved record-breaking quarterly profits in 2021 through subscription highs, increased ad revenue and breakthrough performances of its B2B businesses
NEW YORK, Dec. 30, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Dow Jones & Company, a leading global provider of news and business information, today released a recap of the company’s most notable achievements in 2021, citing world-class journalism, soaring profits driven by record-breaking digital gains across subscriptions and ad revenue, as well as new product offerings and strategic acquisitions and partnerships.
“Dow Jones employees continue to deliver on our mission to provide the world’s most trusted source of journalism, data and analysis to help people make decisions,” said Almar Latour, chief executive officer of Dow Jones and publisher of The Wall Street Journal. “Despite the continuing challenges of the coronavirus pandemic, thanks to our colleagues around the world, we have had one of the most successful years in our company’s history.”
Dow Jones’ notable milestones and achievements in 2021 included:
First Quarter of Fiscal Year 2022 Demonstrated Year-over-Year Growth for Dow Jones
First quarter results were an indicator of growth versus the same quarter prior year, and second quarter results will be announced in February.
- Dow Jones segment EBITDA continued to grow—up 32% from the prior year to reach $95 million.
- Total revenue was up 15% from the prior year to reach $444 million.
- Digital revenue grew—powering overall revenue growth of 15%. Digital revenue now accounts for 75% of Dow Jones' total revenue.
- Dow Jones’ membership community continued to grow—up 18% YoY, with digital-only subscriptions growing 24% YoY.
- Total B2B revenues, including Risk & Compliance, Factiva and Dow Jones Newswires, increased 13%, up $15 million from the prior year to $128 million.
- Risk & Compliance revenue continued to surge in Q1—up 26% YoY with its 25th consecutive quarter of double-digit revenue growth.
- Digital advertising continued to grow at a record pace—up 38% YoY, driven by strong performance across paid categories, particularly in technology, finance and other B2C.
A Year of Impactful News and Trusted Journalism
In 2021, The Wall Street Journal…
- Unveiled its new brand platform, Trust Your Decisions, reinforcing its position as the definitive source of truth for decision-makers.
- Introduced the Emerging Housing Markets Index with Realtor.com®, a new Wall Street Journal Poll and a new coverage area called Life & Work.
- Added a Speed & Trending desk to its newsroom, designed to add more immediacy to the trust and authority of its news, responsible for writing and publishing the first take on many breaking stories.
- Developed a news literacy campaign, showcasing its longstanding tradition of producing credible, factual journalism of the highest standard.
- Celebrated the 25th anniversary of WSJ.com.
In 2021, Barron’s…
- Marked its centennial with the largest subscription base in its history, and with the launch of its Future Focus Stock Index and its premium offering Barron’s Advisor.
- Reached the highest unique monthly readership in its 100-year history.
In 2021, MarketWatch…
- Continued to benefit from new revenue streams and celebrated its first full year with a paywall, the launch of its commerce offering MarketWatch Picks and its newest podcast, The Best New Ideas in Money.
In 2021, Financial News…
- Launched its interactive cryptocurrency page, providing users with real-time data and market updates.
Dow Jones newsrooms were the first to break some of the most important stories of 2021. They produced impactful, in-depth journalism and insightful reporting throughout the year, including:
The Wall Street Journal
- Facebook Files
- 131 Federal Judges Broke the Law by Hearing Cases Where They Had a Financial Interest
- Bill Gates Left Microsoft Board Amid Probe Into Prior Relationship With Staffer
- Intelligence on Sick Staff at Wuhan Lab Fuels Debate on Covid-19 Origin
- ‘Financially Hobbled for Life’: The Elite Master’s Degrees That Don’t Pay Off
- Inside TikTok’s Algorithm: A WSJ Video Investigation
- Four U.S. Intelligence Agencies Produced Extensive Reports on Afghanistan, but All Failed to Predict Kabul’s Rapid Collapse
Barron’s
- SEC Chairman Says Banning Payment for Order Flow Is ‘On the Table’
- Inflation Is Here and Hotter Than It Looks. Why It’s Time to Worry.
MarketWatch
- This is how America’s booming demand for goods shattered the supply chain
- Big Tech is suffering from a ‘Great Resignation’ of workers, who say ‘It’s a good time to leave’
Mansion Global
Financial News
- Xavier Rolet on his 130-hour weeks at Goldman: ‘Not sure what today’s generation is complaining about’
- Amundi warns bitcoin in for ‘brutal’ price correction as regulation hits
Penta
World-Class Business Information and Services
- Dow Jones has continued to expand the Factiva content collection, adding over 800 sources from 90 countries and territories in 26 languages—including Romanian, which became the 29th content language.
- Factiva’s archive now includes over 1.9 billion articles from approximately 32,000 sources from 200 countries and 29 languages.
- Risk & Compliance marked its 20th anniversary with six straight years of revenue growth exceeding 20% and its seventh annual ISAE 3000 audit.
- In response to the evolving compliance landscape, Dow Jones has developed new and unique content and data sets, including the Military End Use Associated Entities content set to help address the challenge of complying with Export Administration Regulations.
- In the past year, Dow Jones' risk database has grown to 3.5 million consolidated profiles, covering politically exposed people, adverse media entities, state-owned companies and sanctions.
Acquisition Activity, a Booming Events Business and Expanded Partnerships in 2021
- Dow Jones acquired Investor’s Business Daily (IBD), expanding its expertise and marking another step in furthering its ambition to become the most impactful business and finance media and information company.
- Dow Jones is on track to complete its acquisition of OPIS in 2022, expanding its valuable news, data and analytics offerings with the addition of a leading provider for the energy and commodities markets.
- Dow Jones announced its intention to acquire Base Chemicals, known for its pricing data, insights, analysis and forecasting capabilities for the world’s most important base chemicals—a critical data set as the world transitions to renewables in the years ahead.
- A years-long effort to achieve a premium for premium content, led by Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch and Robert Thomson bore fruit as The Wall Street Journal, Barron’s, MarketWatch and additional News Corp properties partnered with Google on a historic multi-year deal to provide trusted journalism from its news sites around the world in return for significant payments.
- In 2021, Dow Jones hosted hundreds of virtual events across its portfolio of brands, convening massive global audiences, adding revenue streams, programming diverse speakers and integrating never-before-seen technologies like VR networking, accessibility widgets and more. This fall, the company welcomed the return of some in-person events, including WSJ Magazine’s Innovator Awards and WSJ CEO Council.
- Dow Jones expanded its partnership with Twitter to include Barron's, MarketWatch and IBD for an additional two-year deal.
- New partnerships with Morningstar, S&P Global Market Intelligence and Iress have expanded the reach of trusted real-time market news content from Dow Jones Newswires to the global financial community.
- Penta launched a new partnership with Indagare travel that marries a once-in-a-lifetime trip to the Galápagos with social impact and sustainability.
- Fox Business launched a show based on Mansion Global that explores the most lavish properties in the country for a peek inside luxury real-estate listings.
Awards & Recognition
- The Wall Street Journal was awarded its first News Emmy Award for its documentary E-ternal: A Tech Quest to ‘Live’ Forever, marking a historic moment for Dow Jones.
- Barron’s Streetwise was awarded Best Podcast Hosted by a Publisher by Adweek, noting the podcast “has grown its audience of everyday investors through interviews that break down what is driving the market and what investors need to know.”
- Mansion Global and MarketWatch won multiple NAREE awards, including Mansion Global being awarded first place for Best Home Magazine.
- The National Press Club bestowed its prestigious Angele Gingras Humor Award to Barron's Associated Editor Jack Hough for his witty Streetwise columns.
- Dow Jones Newswires continued to move the markets and was awarded “Best Machine Readable News Supplier” in Europe and the US by TradingTech Insight.
- Dow Jones was included in the 2021 Seramount “100 Best Companies” for Working Mothers list for the sixth consecutive year, and the “Best Companies for Dads” list for the second year.
Corporate Social Responsibility
- Dow Jones is also committed to CSR and supports corporate citizenship with volunteer days, matching philanthropic gifts and a range of community education and outreach programs and events around the world. Employees volunteered to support charities and nonprofits through mentoring and workforce preparation programs, food drives and community clean-ups.
Caring for Our Employees
- Over the summer, as the world witnessed the fall of the Afghanistan government to the Taliban, The Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones began evacuation efforts for their Afghan colleagues and their families. After a few harrowing months, the group of 91 people is now safe and in several locations. Supporting our Afghan colleagues and their families, and assuring their successful start of a new life, remains a top priority for The Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones.
- Dow Jones expanded programs to support diversity, equity and inclusion. In addition, its ten employee-led Inclusive Resource Groups hosted dozens of events throughout the year to support this focus.
- Dow Jones hosted a three-day leadership summit for more than 1,000 managers focused on business and leadership skills development, including inclusive leadership.
- Dow Jones continued several innovative benefits and hybrid work options to help with work-life balance amid the ongoing pandemic and hosted physical, mental and emotional health and well-being programs to support its employees.
About Dow Jones
Dow Jones is a global provider of news and business information, delivering content to consumers and organizations around the world across multiple formats, including print, digital, mobile and live events. Dow Jones has produced unrivaled quality content for more than 130 years and today has one of the world’s largest newsgathering operations globally. It produces leading publications and products including the flagship Wall Street Journal, America’s largest newspaper by paid circulation; Factiva, Barron’s, MarketWatch, Mansion Global, Financial News, Dow Jones Risk & Compliance, Dow Jones Newswires, and Dow Jones VentureSource. Dow Jones is a division of News Corp (Nasdaq: NWS, NWSA; ASX: NWS, NWSLV).
Contact:
Steve Severinghaus
steve.severinghaus@dowjones.com
