In 1875 he joined the staff of the Boston Transcript, holding positions as a reporter and as financial editor. Aware of the need for daily financial news in bulletin form, he established the Boston News Bureau in 1887, became its president, and in 1897 founded the Philadelphia News Bureau. In 1901 Barron acquired from Charles Dow the firm of Dow, Jones & Company, which became the principal financial news agency in the United States. At the same time, Barron acquired the firm's Wall Street Journal, the nation's leading financial newspaper. Barron's Business and Financial Weekly, which he founded in 1921, and the Journal both continue to be published by Dow, Jones & Company. Barron was the author of several books, including The Federal Reserve Act (1914), War Finance (1919), and A World Remaking (1920).