Reuters is in discussion with The New York Times about supplying business news to the American newspaper, after reaching a similar agreement with its sister title the International Herald Tribune .

The tie-ups are designed to augment both titles’ business coverage, in an attempt to fend off the competitive threat from The Wall Street Journal , which is due to be acquired by News Corporation, the parent company of The Times, this week. Mike Oreskes, the Editor-in-Chief of the International Herald Tribune, said that while discussions with Reuters had been going on for several months – before the News Corp takeover of Dow Jones, the owner of The Wall Street Journal, looked likely to go through - “there was absolutely no question” that the move was also preemptive.

From January, the International Herald Tribune will feature five or six pages of business coverage under the brand Business with Reuters and part of the newspaper’s website will be co-branded. Although the newspaper will have ultimate editorial control, it will have access to all Reuters news.

Both sides were reluctant to reveal financial details, but they hope to share the advertising revenues generated. Monique Villa, the managing director of Reuters’s news division, said that the partners would “together try to get new outside revenue”, implying that the proceeds of any new advertising would be shared.

Mr Oreskes confirmed that there were “ongoing discussions” about a separate agreement to supply business news to The New York Times. He said that business coverage was critical to his audience: “We believe that the most important story in the world is not politics or sports, but the globalisa-tion of business and of economics and we’ve been trying to upgrade the section steadily to reflect that.”

Rupert Murdoch, the chairman and chief executive of News Corporation, plans to broaden The Wall Street Journal’ s focus so that it better competes with The New York Times on its home turf, and to invest in its international editions to compete with the International Herald Tribune abroad.

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