Walt Mossberg to leave WSJ as AllThingsD talks fail

Walt Mossberg will end his two-decade tenure as the Wall Street Journal’s personal-technology columnist after failing to reach a deal to keep managing the All Things Digital conference and website. Mossberg and journalist Kara Swisher, who both led the AllThingsD events and news outlet owned by Dow Jones & Co., won’t renew their contracts when they expire by the end of this year, according to a statement. In their absence, Dow Jones said it will expand its technology coverage and conference business.

Mossberg’s weekly technology column was a first-read for consumers deciding whether to buy the latest iPhone or upgrade computer software. The AllThingsD conference has been lucrative for the past decade, consistently selling out its limited 500-seat event every year with guests such as Steve Jobs, Bill Gates and Rupert Murdoch.

Mossberg and Swisher have approached other media companies, including the New York Times, about a joint venture to create a similar conference under a new brand, according to three executives familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified because they weren’t authorized to speak publicly.

Tickets to AllThingsD’s most recent conference, at the end of May, cost $5,500 each, for a total of $2.75 million. The conference also takes sponsors -- such as Oracle Corp and Sony Corp. -- which pay as much as $400,000 each, adding up to more revenue than ticket sales generate, according to two people with direct knowledge of the business.

ADVERTISING REVENUE

The website only brings in about $3 million to $4 million in annual ad revenue, most of it tied to deals that also run across Dow Jones’s other sites, such as wsj.com, one of the people said.

As a stand-alone entity, AllThingsD.com would only generate about $1 million a year, the person said. The company declined to comment on what will happen to the AllThingsD brand. AllThingsD recently added two new events -- one focused on media and another on the mobile industry -- in an effort to expand the franchise.

Dow Jones Editor-in-Chief Gerard Baker said the publisher plans to expand the Wall Street Journal’s technology coverage and will extend its conference business to include an international event. He praised Mossberg’s contributions to the publication.