Kann, Peter R.

KANN, PETER R. (1942– ), U.S. publisher. A native of Prince ton, N.J. Kann graduated from Harvard University with a bachelor’s degree in government. Joining the San Francisco bureau of The Wall Street Journal in 1963, Kann became a staff reporter the following year and worked in the Pittsburgh and Los Angeles news bureaus. In 1967 Kann became the Journal’s first resident reporter in Vietnam. From 1969 to 1975 he continued to cover the Vietnam War, as well as other events across Asia, as a roving reporter based in Hong Kong. In 1972 he was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for distinguished reporting on international affairs for his coverage of the 1971 India-Pakistan war. In 1976 Kann was named the first publisher and editor of The Asian Wall Street Journal, headquartered in Hong Kong. After 12 years in Asia, Kann returned to the United States in 1979, and the following year he was named associate publisher of the Journal and a vice president of Dow Jones & Company, publisher of the Journal. Later that year he became chief operating officer of Dow Jones. He became chief executive officer in January 1991 and chairman in July 1991. During his tenure, the Wall Street Journal grew significantly as readers sought more business information. Kann also presided over the expansion of the Journal from five days to six days when it added a feature-oriented Saturday edition in 2005. Kann’s wife, Karen Elliott House, who received a Pulitzer Prize for international reporting in 1984 for her coverage of the Middle East, became publisher of The Wall Street Journal in 2002.