Tag Archives: BusinessWeek
BusinessWeek hires two editors
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Bloomberg BusinessWeek announced Tuesday that Sheelah Kolhatkar and Jonathan Kelly join the magazine as editors. Both will report to executive editor Hugo Lindgren.
BusinessWeek plans to introduce a redesigned magazine in 10 days. The hirings some about a month after the magazine laid off a number of staffers, including editors, and others took a buyout offer.
“Sheelah and Jon are incredibly talented editors, and I’m thrilled to have them join the magazine,” said editor Josh Tyrangiel in a statement. “Their contributions will be vital to our success as we prepare to debut the new Bloomberg BusinessWeek later this month.”
Prior to joining Bloomberg BusinessWeek, Kolhatkar was a contributor to Time magazine and New York magazine. She has also written for publications including The New Yorker, The New York Times, and The Atlantic Monthly. Previously, Kolhatkar was a contributing editor of Condé Nast Portfolio. She began her career as a hedge fund analyst at JPMorgan Chase.
Kelly joins Bloomberg BusinessWeek from Vanity Fair, where he currently serves as associate editor. In this role, he commissioned and edited features, as well as edited the monthly book and ‘Out to Lunch’ columns and the ‘Vanities’ section.
Biz magazine performance better, but still down in first quarter
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TALKING BIZ NEWS EXCLUSIVE
Business magazines continued to see their advertising revenue and pages decline in the first three months of the year, but at a slower pace than in 2009, according to an analysis of Publishers Information Bureau data by Talking Biz News.
The sector also performed better than the overall magazine industry
The 14 business magazines reported a decline 7.7 percent in ad pages for the quarter. That compares to a 9.4 percent decline for the overall magazine industry. (The data excludes ad pages from Conde Nast Portfolio and Fortune Small Business, both of which closed in the past year.)
In comparison, ad pages declined in business magazines by 28.7 percent in 2009.
The publications that performed the best included Inc., which saw a 17.8 percent increase in ad revenue and a 15.4 percent increase in ad pages, and Wired, which reported a 20.1 percent increase in ad revenue and an 11.2 percent rise in ad pages.
Fast Company reported a 16.9 percent increase in ad revenue and a 10.5 percent in ad pages, while Barron’s reported a 13.3 percent jump in ad revenue and a 7.5 percent increase in ad pages.
The worst performing business magazines during the quarter were the big three — Bloomberg BusinessWeek, Forbes and Fortune.
BusinessWeek reported a 17.8 percent decline in ad revenue to $27.9 million for the quarter, and an 18.7 percent decline in ad pages for the quarter to 210.49 pages.
Forbes reported a 15.6 percent drop in ad revenue to $46.9 million and a 20.3 percent decline in ad pages to 341.68 pages.
Fortune reported an 11.4 percent decline in ad revenue to $33.6 million and a 16 percent drop in ad pages to 265.63 pages.
Overall, the magazine industry reported a 3.9 percent decline in ad revenue. The 14 business magazines reported a 6.4 percent decline in ad revenue in the first three months of the year. Last year, the business magazines reported a 21.7 percent decline in ad revenue.
See all of the data here.
BusinessWeek softball team folds
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TALKING BIZ NEWS EXCLUSIVE
The BusinessWeek softball team, which won the New York media league championship as recently as 2008, has folded for the current season because layoffs and departures have decimated its ranks.
The magazine was acquired by Bloomberg in December. Since then, dozens of staffers have left due to buyouts, layoffs and finding other jobs as Bloomberg molds the magazine into its desired content. At one point, the BusinessWeek team had won a league record 49 games in a row.
Tom Lowry, who covered media and marketing for the magazine and managed the softball team for the past decade, was laid off last month. He confirmed to Talking Biz News that the magazine will not have a team this year. Five other teams — High Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Daily Beast, DC Comics and WNYC — will carry on.
Other key players on the BusinessWeek team who are no long with the magazine due to layoffs and buyouts include photo editor Scott Mlyn (2B), associate editor Spencer Ante (LF), economics writer James Mehring (OF). and librarian Fred Katzenberg (infield). Ante’s skills on the diamond are likely to be coveted by The Journal, his new employer. Lowry played everywhere from catcher to outfield.
Those that resigned from the magazine include BusinessWeek.com editor John Byrne (pitcher) and copy editor Zoe Galland (3B and 2B), who resigned earlier this year to join the Chicago Tribune.
The Wall Street Journal won the 2009 championship of the New York Media Softball League, defeating BusinessWeek 5-1.
Former BW editor to join Wall Street Journal
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Spencer Ante, a former BusinessWeek editor, is joining the Wall Street Journal as deputy bureau chief of its New York corporate coverage.
On his blog, Ante writes, “This is a new bureau that was formed this January to oversee reportage of big companies such as General Electric, IBM, Procter & Gamble, and several big beats, including telecommunications, New York retail and fashion, and recruiting and management.
“‘We formed the New York corporate group to focus on the importance and raise the visibility of the main corporate beats that the Journal covers. This group will also help to strengthen the cooperation between Newswires and Journal reporters,’ said Robert Thomson, editor-in-chief of Dow Jones & Company and managing editor of The Wall Street Journal, announcing the formation of the bureau.
“I will be reporting to Bureau Chief Andrew Dowell, and have a few big priorities:
1. Supervising telecom coverage as a writer and editor
2. Helping to beef up coverage of big tech companies in the region such as IBM, EMC and RIMM
3. Covering New York’s entrepreneurial scene of startups and venture capitalists
4. Helping to beef up WSJ.com’s Digits blog through editing and reporting.”
Read more here. Ante was an associate editor at BusinessWeek before leaving a month ago.
Former BW.com editor Byrne to launch Huffington Post for biz news
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E.B. Boyd of WebNewser reports that former BusinessWeek.com editor John Byrne is working on launching a Huffington Post-like Web site that will contain “business, finance, and economics” news.
Byrne discussed his new venture at a panel in San Francisco on Tuesday.
Boyd reports, “‘The business category [online] is less developed than general news, gossip, entertainment, sports, food, women’s service, health,’ Byrne told WebNewser. ‘So there’s a real open road to make something happen here. Smart people can make it happen very easily. The technology costs are low, so the barrier to entry is very low.’
“And he added: ‘Traditional media is blowing it. It doesn’t understand what digital really is. Traditional media isn’t going to invest in online media. That’s why I think there’s a wide open area here. The newcomer has incredible latittude to succeed. The incumbent is disadvantaged every possible way. And that’s why I’m going after it.’”
Read more here. Byrne predicts his site will be able to compete with The Wall Street Journal, BusinessWeek and Fortune.
BW editor on the importance of aggressiveness
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Jennifer Comiteau of Adweek interviewed new BusinessWeek editor Josh Tyrangiel about his likes and dislikes and his career.
Here is an excerpt:
What’s the future of digital?
Only growing. People want to stay in the conversation constantly, but they also want fixity—they want to stop, open a magazine and tune out the world.
What’s the biggest lesson you learned in the past year from a mistake made?
It’s important to be aggressive. The marketplace rewards it now more than ever. If you sit back and wait, opportunities are gone. Don’t hesitate. At my previous job, the digital landscape was unsorted. We waited a little for it to sort out. You have to trust your gut and make moves. There’s so much competition it’s important to be out in front.
What do you consider your greatest achievement?
Professionally, to make products that people find meaningful and want to read, and to create an office environment that people find enjoyable. Personally, my 2-year-old daughter is pretty awesome. She should totally be on the hot list.
Read more here.
BusinessWeek tribute to former McGraw-Hill CEO: Misspelling his name
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Former BusinessWeek writer Gary Weiss notes that the obituary on the former McGraw-Hill magazine’s Web site gets the name wrong of recently deceased McGraw-Hill CEO Harold McGraw. It’s not Howard.
Weiss writes, “BW was not alone. Apparently nobody at the AP or its member papers (such as this one) noticed that his name is ‘Harold’ not ‘Howard.’ Otherwise I assume there would have been a correction and all these mistakes would have been fixed.
“Strange isn’t it? You’d expect that if the error was going to be corrected anywhere, it would be at BW.
“I guess there’s a bit of symbolic significance in this boner going uncorrected. Over the past few years, BW has become unrecognizable since the days when McGraw ran the magazine’s former parent in the seventies and early eighties. One observer recently contended that BW had morphed over the past few years into the ‘Reader’s Digest of American finance.’”
Read more here.
The future of business journalism
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Greg David, director of the Business & Economics Reporting Program at the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism, interviews Dean Stephen B. Shepard, the former editor-in-chief of BusinessWeek magazine, about where business journalism is heading.
The Future of Business Journalism from CUNY Grad School of Journalism on Vimeo.
BusinessWeek names new creative team
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Bloomberg BusinessWeek announced Friday that Richard Turley, Cynthia Hoffman, and David Carthas join the magazine as creative director, design director, and director of photography, respectively.
The former photo, design and creative directors have left the magazine in the past few weeks due to buyouts and layoffs.
In their newly appointed roles, Turley, Hoffman, and Carthas will work closely together to lead the design of the print publication, including art, photo, and graphics. They will report to Bloomberg BusinessWeek Editor Josh Tyrangiel.
“Our ability to attract three of the most creative visionaries in publishing is a testament to Bloomberg BusinessWeek’s continued influence in the media world,” Tyrangiel said in a statement. “Richard, Cynthia, and David’s unique and extensive experiences in the design field make them invaluable additions to our team. I look forward to working with them on our upcoming relaunch and beyond.”
Turley joins Bloomberg BusinessWeek from the Guardian. During his decade-long tenure at the newspaper, he most recently served as art director of G2, the daily features section. In 2003, as a senior designer, he worked closely with the creative director on the newspaper’s lauded redesign.
Prior to joining Bloomberg BusinessWeek, Hoffman was deputy art director at Time. She previously held several positions at The Boston Globe, including editorial design director, design supervisor, and editorial designer. Hoffman began her career at The Chicago Journal, a newspaper she co-founded, before joining Chicago Magazine as associate art director.
Carthas comes to Bloomberg BusinessWeek most recently from The New York Times Magazine. Previous work has also included Blender, T: The New York Times Style Magazine, Premiere, GQ, and Esquire.
More departures from BusinessWeek
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Talking Biz News has confirmed two more depatures from BusinessWeek, which was acquired in December by Bloomberg LP and has since been undergoing a major overhaul.
Kimberly Weisul, the former editor of BusinessWeek SmallBiz, left on Monday. The quarterly publication launched in June 2004. In addition, Weisul was the small business editor for BusinessWeek. Prior to this position, Weisul was department editor for the UpFront section of the magazine.
Under Weisul’s leadership, SmallBiz won the 2005 Jesse H. Neal Award for Best Startup Publication and received a Silver Award from the American Society of Business Publication Editors in the same category.
Arlene Weintraub, a senior writer for the science and technology section, left last week. Weintraub joined the magazine in 2000 in the Los Angeles bureau. covering info tech and biotech, and moved to the Sci-Tech team in New York in 2004.
She produced a string of cover stories, elegant features and investigative pieces. Her 2006 cover story “Forever Young” won awards from the New York Press Club and Association of Health Care Journalists. She received an American Society of Business Publication Editors Gold Award in feature writing for the 2004 cover story “I Can’t Sleep.”
Weintraub is currently working on a book and plans to freelance.
The cuts in the past week, as well as those late last year, have virtually eradicated the reporting staff devoted solely to the magazine. There are now three writers — Peter Coy, Susan Berfield and Roben Farzad — left in New York for the print magazine, exclusing the online staff, according to current and former staffers. Worldwide, the number is 18 or 19, depending on whether you count a part-time contractor in Israel.
