WSJ to move Asia headquarters from Hong Kong to Singapore

The Wall Street Journal will move its Asian headquarters from Hong Kong to Singapore, it said Thursday in a letter sent to staff and seen by AFP.

The American newspaper said its decision comes after other foreign companies have reconsidered their operations in the Chinese financial center of Hong Kong.

WSJ editor-in-chief Emma Tucker said in a letter to staff that the change would also involve an unspecified number of layoffs.

Announcing changes to the WSJ’s operations in Asia, Tucker wrote: “Some of these changes are structural: We are bringing together our business, finance and economics coverage. Some are geographical: we are shifting our center of gravity in the Hong Kong region to Singapore, as many of the companies we cover have done.”

On the personnel changes, he added: “Consequently, some of our colleagues, mainly in Hong Kong, will be leaving us. It is difficult to say goodbye and I want to thank you for the contributions you have made to the Magazine.”

The WSJ’s employee union, IAPE, said in a statement that it was sorry to learn that eight reporters from the Hong Kong and Singapore bureaus have been fired from the company.

Elsewhere in the region, the WSJ also has bureaus in Tokyo, New Delhi, Hong Kong, Beijing, Seoul, Taiwan and Sydney.

Tucker said a new business, finance and economics group would be created with a mandate to “break news and write ambitious and distinctive articles, analysis and ventures.”

He also said the WSJ was looking to appoint an editor to lead the group, with the position based in Singapore, along with other journalist roles in Singapore and Hong Kong.

Tucker was named the New York-based newspaper’s first female editor in December 2022, and assumed the role in February 2023.

Hong Kong authorities introduced a new national security law this year, and critics said it expanded the city’s powers to prosecute dissidents and was scaring away foreign companies.

The new law expands a national security law implemented by China in 2020 to quell the huge and sometimes violent pro-democracy protests that swept through Hong Kong the previous year.

More than 290 people have been arrested, 174 charged and 114 convicted – most of them prominent pro-democracy politicians, activists and journalists – since Beijing’s security law was enacted.

US news outlet Radio Free Asia announced last month that it had closed its Hong Kong bureau, citing concerns about staff safety, while Reporters Without Borders said last week that a representative was denied entry to the city. .

Hong Kong was once home to a thriving independent media environment.

Authorities have since shut down several local media outlets, including Stand News and Apple Daily.

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