New York mayor Michael Bloomberg approves of the proposed acquisition of BusinessWeek by Bloomberg LP, the company he founded and still owns majority control, although he’s no longer involved in the decision-making, writes David Chen of the New York Times.

Chen writes, “‘They told me that they wanted to look at it,’ Mr. Bloomberg said during an appearance in Manhattan on an unrelated matter. ‘I certainly didn’t have any objections to it. I think it’s a great magazine.’

“Mr. Bloomberg went on to give his own take on the problems plaguing the publishing industry, suggesting that magazines and newspapers that were failing were simply not giving the people what they wanted.

“‘The magazine business — my personal opinion is — has fallen on hard times because of the economy, and the economy will come back,’ Mr. Bloomberg said. ‘I am very optimistic, as you know, about New York City’s economy, and one would hope that that magazine would benefit going forward.’

“He continued: ‘I’ve never believed that print is dead. I’ve always believed that there are two problems with print journalism today. One is lack of advertising, some parts of which will come back, and two, when nobody is buying your magazine or your newspaper, it’s because you’re not writing what people want to read.’”

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Nat Ives of Advertising Age writes Tuesday about Bloomberg‘s plans for BusinessWeek, and talked to Norm Pearlstine and Bloomberg president Dan Doctoroff about what will happen to the business weekly.

Ives writes, “To energize and improve BusinessWeek’s editorial product, then, the new owners plan to increase the number of editorial pages in every issue, tapping Bloomberg’s 2,200 existing journalists.

“‘We think that given the global reach and assets available to us at Bloomberg, combined with BusinessWeek, we can just put out a great magazine,’ Mr. Pearlstine said in an interview Tuesday night. ‘If we do that, we will be rewarded with consumer demand and advertising will follow.’

“It’s not just advertising, though, in Bloomberg’s crosshairs. It’s also eyeing better circulation economics, a priority that too many magazine publishers have thrown overboard in the desperate hunt for ad dollars. ‘Right now the subscription price is $35 annually,’ Mr. Doctoroff said. ‘The Economist is $106. We’ve got to improve the product and make BusinessWeek a must-have.’

“That’s not to say Bloomberg will ignore the chance to sell ads across its newly combined products facing consumers. ‘The other opportunity exists online, where between the two sites, Bloomberg.com and BusinessWeek.com, we’ll have roughly 8 million uniques, which are more than any other non-portal business and financial site,’ Mr. Doctoroff said. ‘Interestingly they have virtually no overlap in terms of advertisers and relatively little overlap in terms of viewers. That is a big opportunity.’”

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TALKING BIZ NEWS EXCLUSIVE

Here is the text of an e-mail sent to the BusinessWeek staff from president Keith Fox, obtained by Talking Biz News:

“Moments ago, McGraw-Hill announced that Bloomberg L.P. has agreed to acquire BusinessWeek. This is exciting news on many levels. Joining forces with another of the world’s leading news organizations enhances BusinessWeek’s ability to further serve our global audience and our valued customers. And Bloomberg will gain a powerful brand with a history of editorial excellence and strong reach among business professionals.

“While the ink is barely dry and the long-term plans are being worked out, we do know that Bloomberg is committed to and values our brand, our editorial integrity, and our ability to drive advertising, circulation, and new digital revenue.

“BusinessWeek will strengthen Bloomberg’s online, television and mobile products and creates an opportunity for Bloomberg News to reach decision makers in the c-suite. Online, BusinessWeek.com and Bloomberg.com will have more unique visitors than any non-portal business and financial site. In addition, Bloomberg expects to build television content around the powerful BusinessWeek brand and our world-class journalists.

“I am tremendously proud of the work all of you have done in the past few months. Despite the uncertainty, we have continued to produce first-class products for our readers and advertisers, and I want to thank you deeply for your efforts. I also want to thank Steve Adler, Jessica Sibley, Tania Secor, Roger Neal, and Linda Brennan, for their extraordinary ability to personify the best of BusinessWeek during the deal process while leading their respective organizations.

“I know that while this announcement answers some of the questions you’ve been asking over the past few months, it raises others. The sale is expected to close by the end of the year and we will be working on transition plans in the coming weeks. I can tell you that all BusinessWeek staffers will remain employees of The McGraw-Hill Companies until the transaction closes, and that it will be business as usual — producing the magazine and the website, and serving our advertisers –through the close. We will give you more details when we can.

“We’ll be holding a town hall meeting later today at 5:45 EST, after which a Q&A will be provided to all employees; you will receive more details shortly. A call for the Asia teams will be scheduled shortly.

“Again, I want to thank you all for your professionalism and dedication during a challenging time. I look forward to working with you on the promising next chapter in BusinessWeek’s history.”

Tom Lowry of BusinessWeek has some of the details of Bloomberg L.P.‘s proposed acquisition of the business weekly magazine, announced Wednesday.

Lowry writes, “But knowledgeable sources say that Bloomberg’s cash offer is in the $2 million to $5 million range and that it has agreed to assume liabilities, including potential severance payments. It remains to be seen how much of the magazine’s 400-plus staff Bloomberg plans to cut, but reports of a planned scorched earth campaign are overblown, say sources.

“If the deal closes as anticipated by Dec. 1, it will be unprecedented for both buyer and seller. For Bloomberg, buying BusinessWeek will be its first major acquisition ever and a significant departure for a 28-year-old company nurtured on a ‘build, don’t buy’ culture.”

Lowry later adds, “BusinessWeek, whose logo will eventually incorporate the Bloomberg name in some still-undetermined way, will continue to publish weekly in print and around the clock online. The goal will be to substantially boost the magazine’s editorial pages. It still hasn’t been decided whether Bloomberg and BusinessWeek will maintain separate Web sites or be morphed together as one. The sites combined attract more than 20 million unique visitors monthly and log roughly 100 million page views. Combined revenues of the sites alone are $60 million.”

Later, he notes, “BusinessWeek staff will be moved across town and into Bloomberg’s Manhattan headquarters by May 1. Officials from Bloomberg will begin meeting with the BusinessWeek staff in the coming weeks.”

Read more here.

Bloomberg L.P., the leading provider of news and information for financial professionals, has agreed to purchase BusinessWeek, publisher of the world’s mostread business weekly, from The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

“The BusinessWeek acquisition will yield huge benefits for users of the Bloomberg terminal, and for our television, online and mobile properties,” said Daniel L. Doctoroff, president of Bloomberg L.P. “We couldn’t be more excited.”

“Although Bloomberg has built one of the world’s largest news organizations with more than 2,200 journalists, our primary audience has been our 300,000 BLOOMBERG PROFESSIONAL service subscribers. They rely on us for high-value, market-moving news and insightful analysis.

“BusinessWeek helps better serve our customers by reaching into the corporate suite and corridors of power in government, where news that affects markets and business is made by CEOs, CFOs, deal lawyers, bankers and government officials who typically are not terminal customers,” Doctoroff noted.

Bloomberg L.P. Chairman Peter T. Grauer said, “The acquisition of BusinessWeek will strengthen Bloomberg’s online, television and mobile products. Together, the BusinessWeek.com and the BLOOMBERG.COMWeb sites will have more unique visitors than any non-portal business and financial site. We also expect to build BLOOMBERG TELEVISION content around the powerful BusinessWeek brand and its world-class journalists.

“Bloomberg’s universe of market makers and BusinessWeek’s readership of decision makers create a powerful audience and a unique value proposition for advertisers. The reporting and analytical resources of Bloomberg and BusinessWeek are unparalleled in their ability to deliver timely, distinctive and credible content to an influential and highly sought-after audience,” Grauer added.

Matthew Winkler, Editor-in-Chief of Bloomberg News said, “BusinessWeek, with its extraordinary context and perspective on the economy and companies, presents a giant opportunity for the BLOOMBERG NEWS service to reach decision makers in the most important industries. We are thrilled to have such experienced journalists as our colleagues.”

To facilitate integration of the two news organizations, Norman Pearlstine will become Chairman of BusinessWeek. Pearlstine, Bloomberg’s Chief Content Officer, joined Bloomberg last year, building on a distinguished career as Managing Editor of The Wall Street Journal and Editor in Chief of Time Inc. “Norm’s role will ensure that we fully capitalize on the combined strengths of Bloomberg and BusinessWeek,” Winkler said.

“Bloomberg looks forward to becoming steward of the great BusinessWeek franchise that McGraw-Hill has built over the past 80 years,” said Pearlstine. “We are uniquely positioned to preserve and build the market presence of BusinessWeek. Our shared values and complementary resources give us the editorial and technological expertise, data, analysis and depth of reporting to create a new model for the business weekly.” 

BusinessWeek magazine, founded in 1929, is the market leader among business periodicals with more than 4.8 million readers each week in 140 countries, local language editions in Chinese, Thai and Bahasa Indonesian and licensees in 15 countries. Bloomberg is the number one source of essential breaking news stories, market coverage, investigative and enterprise reporting on global financial markets and the businesses, governments and individuals that rely on them.

In addition to BusinessWeek magazine, the BusinessWeek brand encompasses the BusinessWeek.com Web site, the Business Exchange online news and information service, SmallBiz magazine and BusinessWeek Events.

Shira Ovide of The Wall Street Journal reports Tuesday that Bloomberg L.P. is the likely winning bidder for BusinessWeek magazine, according to people with knowledge of the talks.

Ovide writes, “A sale remains under negotiation and still could fall apart, according to the people, who said a deal could be struck within days. The situation remains fluid, and it is possible another buyer will surge ahead of Bloomberg, the financial-information company founded by New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

“A spokesman for BusinessWeek referred a request for comment to McGraw-Hill. McGraw-Hill said it was ‘very pleased that the process continues to go well.’ A spokeswoman for Bloomberg declined to comment.

“At least one other bidder, private-equity firm ZelnickMedia, remains in the running, according to the people.

“Relatively little money is expected to change hands in any sale. The people said final-stage negotiations have focused less on the purchase price than on whether McGraw-Hill or the new owner would be responsible for paying severance to the BusinessWeek staffers expected to lose their jobs after a sale.”

Read more here.