Richard Zannino, the current chief executive of Dow Jones, announced yesterday that he was stepping down from the position after News Corporation completes its acquisition of the company.
Zannino said he was leaving after two years to "seek new challenges".
Rupert Murdoch's News Corp, owner of News International, is set to complete its $5.2bn (£2.6bn) takeover of Dow Jones on December 13.
The change comes as James Murdoch steps down at BSkyB and adds News International to his remit as part of his new job overseeing all News Corp's media operations in Europe and Asia.
Hinton will be followed to New York by Robert Thomson, editor of The Times, who is expected to become publisher of The Journal. Gordon Crovitz, the current publisher, announced today that he will be leaving his position after the sale of Dow Jones is complete.
The Times board is set to meet next week for its quarterly meeting and a new editor is expected to be elected at that time.
James Harding, business editor of The Times, has been tipped as the favourite to replace Thomson.
Harding was the Washington bureau chief for the Financial Times from 2002 to 2005 before Thomson recruited him to The Times in 2006.
Other candidates said to be in the running include deputy editor Ben Preston, Sunday Times editor John Witherow and Sun editor Rebekah Wade.
Another possible candidate mentioned is Patience Wheatcroft the former Times business editor who resigned as editor of The Sunday Telegraph in September.
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