Exhibit 99.1
INVESTOR CONTACT: DOW JONES & COMPANY
Mark Donohue 200 Liberty Street
Director, Investor Relations New York, NY 10281
(609) 520-5660
MEDIA CONTACT:
Amy Wolfcale
Vice President, Corporate Communications
(212) 416-3213
DOW JONES APPOINTS RICHARD F. ZANNINO CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER
NEW YORK (JANUARY 3, 2006)--Dow Jones & Company (NYSE: DJ) today
announced that its board of directors has named Richard F. Zannino, 47,
chief executive officer effective February 1, 2006, and has elected Mr.
Zannino to the Company's board effective that date.
Mr. Zannino currently is executive vice president and chief operating
officer. As chief executive officer, he will oversee all the Company's
business units and staff departments and will report to the Dow Jones board
of directors.
Peter R. Kann, 63, the Company's chairman and chief executive officer
since 1991, will continue as chairman until the annual meeting in 2007, the
year in which he reaches the Company's mandatory retirement age of 65.
Dow Jones also announced that on the basis of improved results at The
Wall Street Journal and in its electronic publishing businesses, it now
expects to exceed prior fourth quarter 2005 earnings guidance when it
announces earnings on January 26. The company now expects to report fourth
quarter earnings before special items (after about 6 cents per share of
dilution from Weekend Edition) to be around 40 cents per share, as compared
to prior guidance in the low to mid 30 cents per share range. Based on
currently anticipated special items in the fourth quarter of 2005, the
Company expects reported earnings per share to be in the high 40 cents per
share range, compared with 43 cents per share in the fourth quarter of
2004.
Mr. Kann, speaking for the Dow Jones board, said: "The appointment of
Rich Zannino to chief executive officer reflects his exceptional strategic
and operational accomplishments at the Company over the past five years, as
well as his commitment to the Dow Jones core values of quality, integrity
and independence. We are confident that he will lead the Company to great
success for shareholders, customers and employees in the years to come. On
behalf of my fellow directors, I extend to Rich our congratulations, best
wishes, and full support."
Commenting on his appointment, Mr. Zannino said: "As a devoted
long-time user of the Company's products and ardent believer in our
journalistic mission and core values, I'm honored and excited by this
appointment and look forward to serving our shareholders, readers, other
customers, and employees as chief executive officer. Although I'm not a
journalist, I strongly believe that, for Dow Jones, journalistic excellence
and business performance are mutually reinforcing -- and I am deeply
committed to both. I especially want our employees to know how much I value
their commitment, contribution, teamwork, and passion for what we stand for
- -- all are essential to our future success."
"I look forward to working together with the board of directors, my
fellow executives, and the many other outstanding people of Dow Jones as we
strive to fulfill our goal of providing the world's most vital news,
information and insight in any form, time or place to generate the most
value for our customers and produce above-market shareholder returns."
Dow Jones also announced that Karen Elliott House, 58, senior vice
president of Dow Jones and publisher of The Wall Street Journal, will be
retiring from the Company by mutual agreement after a distinguished 32-year
career. She will stay on to work with Mr. Zannino in her current role for a
couple of transition months. "Karen House has done an outstanding job in
many news and business roles over her long and distinguished career, from
Pulitzer Prize winning reporter to publisher of The Wall Street Journal.
Her steadfast leadership during these past few years of significant change
in the publishing business, including the very successful launch of the
Journal's Weekend Edition, is greatly appreciated. We wish her all the
best," said Mr. Zannino.
Mr. Zannino joined Dow Jones in February 2001 as executive vice
president and chief financial officer and was named chief operating officer
in July 2002. As chief operating officer, all operating units and most
staff departments report to Mr. Zannino. He is a member of the Company's
executive and operating committees. During his tenure, Mr. Zannino has
worked closely with Mr. Kann and other executives to enhance the quality
and value of the Company's offerings, lead significant change in the face
of rapid transformation of the publishing business, and position the
Company for long-term growth in value for shareholders, customers and
employees.
Before joining Dow Jones, Mr. Zannino gained extensive experience in
strategy, business development, finance, customer value-creation,
operations and international business in several companies and industries.
For nearly 20 years, he held senior finance, strategy and operating
positions at Liz Claiborne Inc., General Signal Corporation, Saks Holdings,
Inc., and Peter Kiewit Sons', Inc. He holds an undergraduate degree in
economics and finance from Bentley College and an MBA degree from Pace
University.
Dow Jones & Company (NYSE: DJ; dowjones.com) publishes The Wall Street
Journal and its international and online editions, Barron's and the Far
Eastern Economic Review, Dow Jones Newswires, Dow Jones Indexes,
MarketWatch and the Ottaway group of community media franchises. Dow Jones
is co-owner with Reuters Group of Factiva and with Hearst of SmartMoney.
Dow Jones also provides news content to CNBC and radio stations in the U.S.
Information Relating To Forward-Looking Statements; Non-GAAP Reconciliation:
This press release contains forward-looking statements, such as those
including the words "believe," "expect," "intend," "estimate,"
"anticipate," "will," "outlook," "guidance," "forecast" and similar
expressions, that involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual
results to differ materially from those anticipated including: the cyclical
nature of the Company's business and the strong, negative impact of
economic downturns on advertising revenues, particularly in the Company's
core advertising market-B2B advertising; the risk that inconsistent trends
across major advertising categories, such as technology and finance, will
continue and that B2B advertising levels, particularly in technology and
finance, may or may not return to historical levels; the Company's ability
to expand and diversify the Journal's market segment focus beyond finance
and technology; the Company's ability to limit and manage expense growth,
especially in light of its prior cost cutting and its growth initiatives
such as the new Weekend Edition; intense competition for ad revenues and
readers the Company's products and services face; the impact on the future
circulation of the Journal and community newspapers that may be caused by
the declining frequency of regular newspaper buying by young people; with
respect to our new Weekend Edition, the risks that it may not generate
anticipated advertising revenues, resulting in greater losses than expected
in its first two years of operation, and that it may draw advertising away
from the Company's other consumer advertising sections; with respect to
Newswires and other subscription-based products and services, the negative
impact of business consolidations and layoffs in the financial services
industry on sales; the uncertainties relating to the Company's guarantee to
Cantor Fitzgerald Securities and Market Data Corporation; and such other
risk factors as may be included from time to time in the Company's reports
filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission and posted in the
Investor Relations section of the Company's web site (www.dowjones.com).
The Company undertakes no obligation to update or revise any
forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future
events, or otherwise. This press release includes certain non-GAAP
financial measures as defined under SEC rules. As required by SEC rules, we
have attached to this press release a reconciliation of those measures to
the most directly comparable GAAP measures.
RECONCILIATION OF FOURTH QUARTER 2005 EARNINGS OUTLOOK:
QUARTERS ENDED DECEMBER 31
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2005 GUIDANCE 2004 ACTUAL
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High 40 cents per
REPORTED EARNINGS PER SHARE share range $ .43
Adjusted to remove:
Restructuring charges (.05)
Special charge at an equity investment (.01)
Contract guarantee (.01) (.02)
Certain income tax matters .11 .07
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EPS BEFORE SPECIAL ITEMS Around 40 cents $
per share * .43
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*Based on special items currently anticipated.
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