By Gavin Lower

MELBOURNE--The Chief Operating Officer of News Corp.'s (NWS) the Australian newspaper, John Allan, has resigned, Jerry Harris, managing director of newspapers and digital products at News Corp.'s Australian unit, News Ltd., said in an email to staff Monday.

Mr. Harris said Mr. Allan had worked at News Ltd. for six years and had been COO at the Australian since June last year, leading its commercial and digital strategy.

"The Australian has over 40,000 digital subscribers which represents strong take-up of our digital offering," Mr. Harris said.

He said Mr. Allan's replacement would be announced "shortly."

News Corp. is also the owner of Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.

Write to Gavin Lower at gavin.lower@wsj.com