AllThingsD and Dow Jones Will Part Ways at the End of the Year

AllThingsD and Dow Jones aren't renewing their relationship at the end of this year.

AllThingsD and Dow Jones aren't renewing their relationship at the end of this year. The tech site, led by co-executive editors Kara Swisher and Walt Mossberg, have been looking for outside investors for the past month while simultaneously negotiating with its parent company, according to a report in Fortune. Swisher and Mossberg founded AllThingsD in 2007.

Mossberg will have to give up his column in the Dow Jones-owned Wall Street Journal as part of the deal. He's written that column for two decades. And, Dow Jones will retain ownership of the AllThingsD brand, including the Wall Street Journal conferences from which it takes its name, Variety notes. In a statement to Variety, Gerard Baker, editor-in-chief of Dow Jones and managing editor of the Wall Street Journal said, "after discussions, both parties have decided not to renew the agreement when the contract expires at the end of this year." Fortune, who first reported the news, explains more on what could be next: 

Fortune hears that AllThingsD remains in talks with two prospective investors, one of which is Comcast (CMSCA) subsidiary NBCUniversal. Other names that have been floated include Bloomberg, Condé Nast, Cox Enterprises and The Washington Post Company (WPO).

So far, however, no final deal has been signed. It is unclear how ATD would finance itself without a large media partner. We also are unsure about the future of the AllThingsD brand and archived content, both of which Dow Jones currently owns.

Mashable notes that the Wall Street Journal is already planning to expand its tech coverage in other directions, even as the company hammers out the final details of what will happen to the AllThingsD brand after the split with Swisher and Mossberg. That expansion includes hiring about 20 reporters and editors to expand its tech coverage, under the banner of the Wall Street Journal Digital Network.