New York - Richard Zannino, the head of media firm Dow Jones which runs the Wall Street Journal, will step down after the planned takeover by media mogul Rupert Murdoch, the firm said Thursday. Murdoch's News Corp will name a successor for Zannino after purchasing Dow Jones for 5.6 billion dollars. The Wall Street Journal reported it will tap Les Hinton, head of Murdoch's newspaper branch News International. Publisher of the London newspaper The Times, Robert Thomson, was to become publisher of the Journal.
Dow Jones shareholders are to to formally approve the deal next week.
Zannino, 48, has been Dow Jones chief since 2006.
In addition to the print and online editions of the Wall Street Journal, Dow Jones properties include weekly Barron's, Dow Jones News Wires, online stock publication Market Watch and news database Factiva.
