• by Ray Schultz , May 29, 2023

Kristina O’Neill has finished her last issue of WSJ. Magazine, and is set to depart the publication. 

O’Neilll’s last issue will appear on newsstands on June 3, and is now rolling out online. 

“We still have a few more stories rolling out in the coming weeks, even months, but this will serve as my goodbye,” O’Neill writes in a column posted on Instagram.  

O’Neill told her staff by last month that she would be leaving her post this summer.  

The decision reportedly was made by Wall Street Journal editor In chief Emma Tucker. And it has not been Tucker’s only such move.  

“I am writing to share the news that Neal Lipschutz and Jason Anders will be leaving their positions as deputy editors in chief after many years of distinguished service to The Wall Street Journal,” Tucker tweeted last week.  

However, the succession plans are unclear for the departing editors.  

“If there’s a plan to replace WSJ. magazine editor i -chief Kristina O’Neill, who was sacked, to use a very British term, by new Wall Street Journal editor Emma Tucker last week, it’s not being shared with staffers,” Lauren Sherman wrote on Puck.

And last week, in announcing the The Lipschutz and Anders departures, Tucker wrote, “a new deputy editor will be announced in due course.” 

Tucker became EIC of The Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones Newswires, the first woman to hold that title, in February. She succeeded Matt Murray, who assumed a senior role at News Corp.  

As for O’Neill’s view of her tenure, she writes, “During my decade at the helm, we’ve pulled together such a vivid mix of fashion, art, pop culture, and more because of the combined talents of a peerless group of editors, photographers, and reporters.” 

Observers wonder if there is a future for WSJ.  

In a separate development, Tucker has announced that the Wall Street Journal is eliminating the use of titles such as Mr. and Ms.

Those titles are remnants of a time when they helped the publication maintain a polite tone. However, “editors have concluded that the titles in news articles are becoming a vestige of a more-formal past, and that the flood of Mr., Ms., Mx. or Mrs. in sentences can slow down readers’ enjoyment of our writing,” Tucker wrote.