Singapore – Wall Street Journal (WSJ) is set to relocate its Asia headquarters from Hong Kong to Singapore, resulting in an unspecified number of journalists to be laid off. This after consideration by the US publication following the move from other foreign firms to move out from their headquarters from the Chinese financial hub of Hong Kong.
In a letter seen by AFP, WSJ editor-in-chief Emma Tucker said, “Some of these changes are structural: We are bringing together our business, finance and economics coverage. Some are geographic: We are shifting our center of gravity in the region from Hong Kong to Singapore, as many of the companies we cover have done.”
She also added, “Consequently, some of our colleagues, mostly in Hong Kong, will be leaving us. It is difficult to say goodbye, and I want to thank them for the contributions they have made to the Journal.”
It is worth noting that WSJ has APAC bureaus in Tokyo, New Delhi, Hong Kong, Beijing, Seoul, Taiwan and Sydney.
WSJ’s new move is part of a worrying rise of media-related layoffs and restructuring, the most recent being of Yahoo Singapore laying off staff in favour of syndicated content moving forward.
