The focus is on Hong Kong for the New York Times and Wall Street Journal as the rivals look for ways of making less appear as more.
The Wall Street Journal is also to revert to a broadsheet format as it moves to a single international edition.
And at the New York Times, Julia Whiting (pictured) has been recruited from Fairfax Media to lead the whole of its Asia-Pacific advertisement sales operation following the closure of its office in Singapore. Previously Hong Kong, China, Korea, Japan, Pakistan, the Philippines and Taiwan were handled from Hong Kong, with Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Australia and New Zealand handled from Singapore.
The publisher has also launched a Chinese-language edition of the International New York Times (right) for markets centred on Hong Kong.
The Wall Street Journal says it will relaunch Asian and its European editions "global broadsheets". The six-day daily replaces current tabloids, a format to which it moved in 2005 as part of planned cost savings.
Publisher Dow Jones says the revamped print editions will provide regionally relevant content targeting financial capitals including London, Frankfurt, Hong Kong, Paris and Shanghai. Readers will get a version based on the US edition with changes - including section fronts - for Europe and Asia.
Digital editions include new iOS and Android versions for subscribers , and a mobile-only product called What's News is also new.
Editor-in-chief Gerard Baker says the move to a single global broadsheet edition will result in about 50 per cent more news content.
"The global Wall Street Journal reflects our international ambitions and our desire to deliver a singular Journal experience to readers in the world's most economically important cities," he said.
The paper reported "a few dozen" jobs were being shed asa part of a "full transformation of our newsroom" to become the world's premier digital news organisation; some activities would be discontinued while more was invested in others. Staff in the WSJ's Asia and Europe bureaux would be reduced. The paper reported the total number of jobs cut could be well over 100, although some digital departments would be beefed up.