In a major initiative under new CEO Richard Zannino, Dow Jones & Co. announced a major reorganization of the company into three business units, reports BtoB Online. As part of the move, the print and web editions of the Wall Street Journal will be combined under the Consumer Media Group, which will include MarketWatch, Barron's and SmartMoney. L. Gordon Crovitz, head of electronic publishing operations, will head the new unit as EVP of Dow Jones, president of Dow Jones Consumer Media Group and publisher of The Wall Street Journal Franchise.

"This new structure and leadership team is a major first step in transforming Dow Jones from a channel-focused publishing company to a franchise-, market- and customer-focused media company," Zannino, named CEO in January, said in a statement.

An anonymous industry observer is quoted by BtoB as saying: "It sounds like they're aligning logical content sets to create more well-rounded products for their constituents. It makes sense to integrate properties that can increase [web] traffic and leverage the content into greater online sales."

The second unit is the Enterprise Media Group, which will include the Dow Jones Newswires, Financial Information Services, Licensing Services, Indexes, among others. The third unit, Community Media Group, will include the Dow Jones portfolio of 15 daily and 19 weekly Ottaway community newspaper properties in nine states.