The Wall Street Journal will begin to print its U.S. edition in London beginning on April 16, which will complement The Wall Street Journal Europe.

The four-section U.S. edition includes coverage of U.S. and international corporate, political, and economic news, a money & investing section with in-depth analysis of international financial markets, sections on health, personal finance and technology, and media and marketing. The Weekend Journal section on Friday features lifestyle-focused stories and a weekly sports business page.

The initial print run will be 3,500 copies daily and it will sell for £2.50 ($5, €3.15) compared to the Financial Times at £1.50.

Since the U.S. edition will go on sale in central London in the morning, local readers will have access to the paper several hours before it goes on sale in the U.S. giving them an advantage over American readers on the stock market's performance.

"We believe a large number of internationally-minded people living and working in London will value the U.S. edition, and we'll now be able to give them the competitive advantage of having the world's best business paper five hours ahead of U.S. readers," said Michael Bergmeijer, Managing Director of Dow Jones' Consumer Media Group in Europe.

The International Herald Tribune and Financial Times may be affected if the U.S. WSJ does well in London and possibly expand to other cities in Europe. WSJ's advantage over the two papers is that it arguably covers the US business scene better, according to Followthemedia's Phil Stone, and it is less generalist in nature than the IHT. However, the WSJ is adding more general news in addition to its financial coverage, which may suit the tastes of both businessmen and those not so interested in business. As for the best coverage of business outside the US, Stone sees the Financial Times and U.S. WSJ in heavy competition.

Many Americans read the IHT and WSJ Europe, but both have more European readers than American. 80% of the WSJE's readership is European according to Bergmeijer. Stone asks if the Wall Street Journal Europe will be necessary if the U.S. edition is successful? Since many European businessmen are already subscribed to WSJ.com, it remains to be seen whether or not they'll pay an additional £2.50 for the print version.

For previous coverage, please visit our sister site SFN.

Sources: Follow the Media, Poynter Romenesko, IHT, The Guardian.co.uk (photo)