Emma Tucker, the British editor of the UK Sunday Times, was named on Monday as the new editor-in-chief of the Wall Street Journal, and will become the first woman to lead the 133-year-old business title.
The move, announced by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp, will happen in February next year when Tucker, who will also run Dow Jones Newswires, will succeed Matt Murray, who will depart after a four-year tenure.
Tucker was named editor of the Sunday Times in 2020, and in published interviews talked about building digital growth and working to broaden the publication’s audience beyond its core older, affluent and middle-class readers.
That vision appears to align with that of the Journal’s publisher and Dow Jones chief executive, Almar Latour, who is credited with leading the digital transformation of the publication, which now has more than 3m digital subscribers.
During Murray’s editorship the WSJ published a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigation into Donald Trump and the Facebook Files series. Murray will take on new projects in a senior role at News Corp, reporting to the chief executive, Robert Thomson, the company said in a news release.
The Journal and the UK Sunday Times are both News Corp publications.
Murray will assist Tucker in the transition until 1 March 2023, when he will begin his new position at News Corp. In his new role, Murray will take on “several critical growth projects supporting News Corp”, the company said.
Tucker’s career has tracked the trajectory of Thomson, who spent 17 years at the Financial Times, where they worked together. Thomson served as editor of the Times of London before taking over as editor-in-chief of the Journal.
Tucker joined the Times in 2007 as an associate features editor, and the following year she became editor of Times2, a daily features supplement to the Times. In 2012, she was promoted to editorial director.
“Emma is a brilliant, inspiring editor, with digital nous and the highest standards of integrity,” Thomson said in a statement on Monday. “She has been a thoughtful custodian of the Sunday Times and will bring verve and virtue to Dow Jones. Her global vision and experience will be particularly important at a time of immense international opportunity for the Wall Street Journal.”
Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp and the Murdoch-controlled Fox Corp are considering a proposal to recombine nearly a decade after splitting up.
• Reuters contributed to this report
