A weekly, business newspaper titled The Business Journal is being launched in the North West covering Chester, Wirral and North Wales.

The website will go live on 20 July with the weekly print edition launching towards the end of August.

It will have an initial print run of 7,000 copies going to senior executives who employ five or more staff in the region, and the digital edition will be distributed to 38,000 e-mail recipients in the North West.

The publication is the brainchild of Arthur Porter, who launched Crain’s Manchester Business newspaper that closed when its Detroit-based owners pulled funding in June 2010. Porter described the paper as “basically the same concept” as Crain’s Manchester Business and said that it is going to give people exclusive, breaking news.

It will cost £58 for an annual subscription or £2 to buy single editions from newsstands.

The Business Journal will be up against the business sections of the Manchester Evening News and the Liverpool Echo, as well websites such as theBusinessDesk.co.uk.

More details will be available in due course.