Langhoff had been publisher of the Wall Street Journal Europe and managing director for EMEA since January 2009
Andrew Langhoff, publisher of the Wall Street Journal Europe, has resigned after an internal investigation into links between the newspaper and a consulting firm which he said caused him "great concern".
According to a report by the Wall Street Journal itself, the investigation found that two articles that appeared in its Special Reports section had been "prompted by an agreement the circulation department struck with Executive Learning Partnership, or ELP".
In a memo reportedly sent to staff and published widely in the press, Langhoff said stepping down was "the most honourable course".
"There is – and should be – an inviolable boundary between our commercial relationships and the content we produce," he added.
"The perception that this boundary was crossed via a broad agreement between The Wall Street Journal Europe's circulation department and a company called Executive Learning Partnership has been of great concern to me."
In a statement the Wall Street Journal said Dow Jones "has zero tolerance for even the appearance of a breach of ethical standards".
"The circulation department of The Wall Street Journal Europe entered into a broad business agreement with a third party, Executive Learning Partnership, that could give the impression that news coverage can be influenced by commercial relationships. We no longer have a relationship with ELP.
"Because Dow Jones has zero tolerance for even the appearance of a breach of ethical standards, the publisher of the WSJE – who has ultimate responsibility for this matter – has opted to resign and the WSJE has posted and will print a reader clarification on two WSJE Special Report articles related to this matter.
In a separate statement the Wall Street Journal added that while it looks for Langhoff's successor, Kelly Leach, senior vice president and head of strategy for Dow Jones, will oversee operations.
"Andrew has played a number of important roles at Dow Jones since 2003 and has been instrumental in successfully growing our businesses in Europe over the past several years," Todd Larsen, president of Dow Jones & Company said in a statement.
"He has built a strong team and leaves the Journal franchise with strong momentum in Europe, with more initiatives in the pipeline. We thank him for his many important contributions to the company".
Langhoff had been publisher of the Wall Street Journal Europe and managing director for EMEA since January 2009.
His resignation follows that of Les Hinton in July, who at the time was chief executive officer of Dow Jones and publisher of the Wall Street Journal.
Hinton resigned in light of ongoing phone hacking allegations within News International, of which he was previously executive chairman. He is due to give evidence to the culture, media and sport select committee as part of its investigation into phone hacking later this month, but has already said he stands by evidence given in 2007 and 2009.
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