The 80 year old weekly magazine, BusinessWeek, is getting a new owner. Bloomberg LP announced Tuesday that it would buy BusinessWeek magazine from McGraw Hill. Unconfirmed reports state that Bloomberg is paying up to $5 million for the magazine.
Bloomberg L.P. is a financial software, news and data company founded in 1981 by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Bloomberg owns 92% of the group. The company's core business is leasing terminals to subscribers. It also runs Bloomberg Television, a financial TV station, and a business radio station WBBR in New York City.
McGraw Hill put BusinessWeek up for sale in July 2009 as advertising declined. Bloomberg saw it as an opportunity to expand its reach beyond Wall Street.
BusinessWeek was first published in 1929 (as The Business Week). From 1975, it carried more advertising pages annually than any magazine in the United States, and in the mid 1990s its circulation was more than one million worldwide. Like many magazines, BusinessWeek suffered from a decline in advertising during the late-2000s recession, forcing its sale in 2009.
According to the BusinessWeek website, the magazine has 190 editorial staff, about 4.8 million readers weekly in 140 countries. The weekly magazine's 30 percent decline in second-quarter ad sales, to $43.9 million, compared with a 22 percent drop industrywide, according to Publishers Information Bureau data.
This is Bloombert's first acquisition. The company's plans for the newsweekly are not known. It's likely that they will retain the strong brand that BusinessWeek has established over the past 80 years.
Cheryl Phillips
Exclusive to HULIQ.com
Comment and add to the story without registration, but keep the comments meaningful please. Links are not accepted.
