For Sale: BusinessWeek
This caught my eye:
“McGraw-Hill Cos. hired Evercore Partners Inc., the boutique investment bank founded by Roger Altman, to sell BusinessWeek magazine, a person close to the situation said.
The person declined to be identified because the information isn’t public. Spokesmen for McGraw-Hill and Evercore, which are both based in New York, declined to comment.
McGraw-Hill, also the owner of the Standard & Poor’s ratings company, is said to be seeking a buyer for BusinessWeek as the recession and competition from the Internet cuts into publishers’ advertising sales. The weekly magazine was founded in 1929 and has almost 190 editorial staff, according to its Web site. It has about 4.8 million readers weekly in 140 countries.”
It is less about conflict of interest than it is about dumping a old form media property in a time of declining circulation and falling advertising dollars.
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Source:
McGraw-Hill Said to Hire Evercore to Sell BusinessWeek Magazine
Serena Saitto and Greg Bensinger
Bloomberg, July 13 2009
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=abELiuNJa7K0
July 13th, 2009 at 9:14 am
I’m sure you are sorry to see them have trouble
July 13th, 2009 at 9:15 am
S&P should rate the rag AAA. That’ll help move it.
July 13th, 2009 at 9:31 am
BR,
I bet everything regarding McGraw-Hill catches your eye after the Bailout Nation debacle. Screw them.
July 13th, 2009 at 10:18 am
Further proof People don’t like being lied to, either by commision, or omission, and like it less when they are paying for it..
to be clear, yes, re: Business Week.
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/omission
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Commission
see n. #3
July 13th, 2009 at 10:22 am
BusinessWeek magazine is a mere shell of itself. I’ve subscribed for many years, and just three years ago or so I used to look forward to the magazine’s arrival in my mailbox.
However, of late, the maazine has been dumbed down so much, that there is usually a pile of three or four waiting to be skimmed through.
BusinessWeek wasn’t hurt by competition from the Internet, BusinessWeek was hurt by incompetence from within. In trying to appeal to the lowest common denominator of business news, BusinessWeek forgot who its audience was.
July 13th, 2009 at 10:55 am
BW should be bought for its archives. As a going concern, its future seems pretty bleak.
July 13th, 2009 at 11:02 am
I worked for BusinessWeek for about 2 years back around 85. Although, the editors were real nice guys, the focus of the mag even back then was advertising $$$.
July 13th, 2009 at 11:31 am
> the focus of the mag even back then was advertising $$$.
That is the fundamental business model of any magazine. The magazine sells the attention of its readers to the advertisers.
BusinessWeek’s problem was not in that focus, the problem was that BusinessWeek lowered the quality of the readers in order to increase the quantity of readers, figuring the overall revenue would increase. The revenue did not increase enough, and BusinessWeek found itself with a readership base that the advertisers were not willing to pay a premium dollar for.
July 13th, 2009 at 11:55 am
@ Bob
“BusinessWeek magazine is a mere shell of itself. I’ve subscribed for many years, and just three years ago or so I used to look forward to the magazine’s arrival in my mailbox.
However, of late, the maazine has been dumbed down so much, that there is usually a pile of three or four waiting to be skimmed through.”
I think you nailed it. I still have a subscription but am planning to let it run out and not renew. I find I have to skip more and more regular sections because they are worthless. Maria Bartiromo (sp?) interviews (now a regular feature), I find annoying. I skip the “yellow page” economic view which is poorly researched and always polyanna-ish. There’s less and less in Business Week that I find I can actually read.
July 13th, 2009 at 11:56 am
Eh. BUsiness Weak hasn’t been worth reading for years. Or much of anything else out of McGraw HIll, really…
July 13th, 2009 at 1:28 pm
I just found out about this electronic publication today! “think money”
https://www.thinkorswim.com/tos/displayPage.tos?webpage=thinkMoney
July 13th, 2009 at 3:42 pm
Agreed Bob/Krice. The magazine is very thin these days with little useful or interesting content.
I haven’t paid for BW in years as I’ve always used a few airline miles to renew a subscription. But I can’t find BW on the airline reward sites anymore, so will let my current subscription expire.