Tag Archives: Fortune
Fortune makes its 500 list a full day of activities
by Chris Roush
Emma Bazilian of Adweek writes about how Fortune magazine is making its well-known list of the 500 biggest companies a full day of events.
Bazilian writes, “On May 7, the first Fortune 500 Day will kick off with a reveal of the list on CBS This Morning, followed by events including job fairs, the ringing of the closing bell on the New York Stock Exchange, and a Fortune 500 Day Dinner.
“‘The Fortune 500 has become, in some ways, bigger than Fortune,’ publisher Jed Hartman told Adweek. ‘It made some sense to really take it to the next level and seize the relevance of the conversation today.’
“The list is especially relevant when it comes to current political talking points, from the need for employment to the role of corporate America. ‘The big talk, especially with the election, is job creation, and the Fortune 500 employs 16 million U.S. workers,’ said Hartman. ‘Our slogan has been that although small business are the heart and soul of the American economy, Fortune 500 companies are the backbone—not only in job creation, but in the vendors they support and the products they buy.’
“The magazine is also hoping to change how the public views the companies on Fortune‘s list. ‘People bash big business these days, but there’s a lot of real benefits that accrue to our society,’ said Fortune managing editor Andy Serwer, who planned to spend his Fortune 500 Day passing out issues of the magazine to companies around New York City. ‘People talk about small companes creating jobs, but these are the jobs with benefits.’”
Read more here.
Sluggish performance by business magazines in first quarter
by Chris Roush
TALKING BIZ NEWS EXCLUSIVE
The three largest business magazines — Bloomberg Businessweek, Forbes and Fortune — posted positive results in the first quarter, but virtually every other title struggled, particularly those geared toward small businesses and personal finance topics, according to an analysis of Publishers Information Bureau data by Talking Biz News.
Of the big three, Fortune performed the best, with a 15.2 percent increase in ad revenue to $38.8 million and an 8.1 percent increase in ad pages to 272.14.
Bloomberg Businessweek posted a 9.7 percent increase in ad revenue to $50.6 million and an 8.2 percent rise in ad pages to 338.86, while Forbes posted an 11.7 percent rise in ad revenue to $50.1 million and a 7.4 percent jump in ad pages to 330.83.
However, eight of the 14 business-related titles showed a decline in ad revenue for the first three months of 2012.
The personal finance publications had an especially weak performance. Kiplinger’s Personal Finance recorded a 30.9 percent drop in ad revenue to $3.7 million and a 33.8 percent drop in ad pages to 53.93.
It was followed by SmartMoney, which had a 19.3 percent decline in ad revenue to $6.9 million and a 23.4 percent drop in ad pages to 67.42. Money magazine had a 9.3 percent decline in ad revenue to $20.8 million and a 13.7 percent decline in ad pages to 91.79.
Both Inc. and Entrepreneur also saw declines. Inc.’s ad revenue fell 13.8 percent to $7.6 million and its ad pages fell 15.6 percent to 92.67, while Entrepreneur’s ad revenue fell 9.1 percent to $19.1 million and its ad pages fell 10.1 percent to 219.22.
However, Fast Company reported a 9.6 percent increase in ad revenue to $8.7 million and a 4.4 percent increase in ad pages to 95.85.
See all of the data here.
Fortune cover story available online on Amazon, not on its website
by Chris Roush
Peter Kafka of All Things Digital writes about how the latest Fortune cover story — about Facebook — is not on its website and available for purchase on Amazon.com
Kafka writes, “Last year, Fortune magazine was so proud of an Apple cover story that it made it hard for people to read: The magazine kept the piece off the Web and only made it available to subscribers, via the print edition and an iPad app, or to people who bought the story as an Amazon e-book.
“Now it is trying the same gambit, but with Mark Zuckerberg instead of Steve Jobs. If you want to read ‘Inside Facebook,’ Miguel Helft and Jessi Hempel’s pre-IPO profile, you’ll need to pay up.
“I just plunked down $1.99 for the Amazon edition, and zipped through it this morning. Like the Apple story, this one is focused on the company’s structure and management philosophy more than anything, which is quite useful for outsiders. Alas, no org chart.”
Read more here.
All biz journalists have conflicts
by Chris Roush
Dan Primack of Fortune doesn’t understand what all of the hullabaloo is about tech journalists and their conflicts, noting that at the end of the day, it is the quality of their content that matters.
Primack writes, “Most tech media site hosts live events, for the primary purpose of generating revenue. Yes, there are secondary goals — increasing brand awareness, generating exclusive content — but a well-attended conference can generate more money in a day than can a month’s worth of on-site advertising. Trust me, I’ve done them.
“And do you know why those conferences are well-attended? High-profile speakers. The higher the better. And do you know who usually recruits those speakers? Journalists, because they’re the ones with the existing relationships.
“In other words, journalists basically ask the people they are covering to appear at an event for the purpose of making money for that journalist’s employer (which then has more money to pay the journalist, or give them a raise). Not exactly the same as asking someone you cover for an investment in your employer, but not exactly in a different ballpark.
“Ultimately, it all comes down to reader trust, which journalists and media outlets gain over time by regularly publishing accurate, insightful and/or entertaining information. Anyone can publish unfounded rumors or gushy pablum about their own supporters. But those outlets won’t stand the test of time (and, consequently, won’t produce a good return on investment for their VC backers). Readers have limited time, don’t suffer fools lightly and have plenty of options.”
Read more here.
Fortune.com hires new Wall Street reporter
by Chris Roush
Megan Barnett, the managing editor of Fortune.com, sent out the following staff announcement on Friday afternoon:
I’m pleased to announce that Steve Gandel will join Fortune.com on Monday to cover Wall Street for the Term Sheet section of the site. Steve was most recently a senior business writer for Time, and before that was at Money Magazine and Crain’s New York Business. He got his start covering the stock-market boom of the late 1990s at Individual Investor Magazine.
Steve will add daily commentary and news analysis on everything from Wall Street bonuses to the MF Global meltdown to the impact of the Volcker Rule. Like Colin Barr before him, Steve will be headquartered in the CNN Money newsroom but we’ll still see him regularly here on the 18th floor. I’ll plan to introduce him at a morning meeting next week so you can join me in welcoming him.
At Time, Gandel covered real estate, economics and Wall Street. He the senior Wall Street reporter for Crain’s New York Business. He has held positions at the Riverfront Times in St. Louis.
Biz magazine ad revenue in 2011 outpaces rest of industry
by Chris Roush
TALKING BIZ NEWS EXCLUSIVE
The 13 business magazines reported ad revenue of $1.24 billion in 2011, up 6.2 percent from the previous year, far outpacing the slight increase for the entire magazine industry, according to data released by the Publishers Information Bureau and analyzed by Talking Biz News.
Ad pages also rose 1.4 percent to 11,413.30 for the business magazines, which also outperformed the 3.1 percent decline in ad pages for the entire industry.
It’s the second consecutive year that the business magazine world has outperformed the overall magazine industry.
The business magazine with the biggest increase in ad revenue — and in ad pages — was Bloomberg Businessweek, which reported a 29.4 percent rise in ad revenue to $223.4 million and a 19 percent increase in ad pages to 1,536.71.
The worst-performing business magazine in 2011 was Smart Money, a Dow Jones & Co. publication. It reported a 12.9 percent drop in ad revenue to $32.7 million and a 17.4 percent decline in ad pages to 338.18.
Forbes remained the No. 1 business magazine in terms of ad dollars and ad pages. Its ad revenue rose 0.9 percent to $255.1 million, and its ad pages fell 3.9 percent to 1,844.84.
Fortune, a Time Warner magazine, dropped behind Bloomberg Businessweek in both categories. Its ad revenue rose 4.5 percent to $204 million and its ad pages fell 0.9 percent to 1,525.68.
Harvard Business Review reported strong numbers in 2011, with a 21.4 percent rise in ad revenue to $18.9 million and a 16.5 percent rise in ad pages to 436.04. Wired magazine reported a 17.6 percent rise in ad revenue to $99.8 million and an 8.9 percent rise in ad pages to 938.04.
Among the three personal finance titles, Kiplinger’s performed the best in terms of ad revenue with a 1.3 percent jump to $22.41 million, and a 10.6 percent increase in ad pages to 338.41. Money still has more ad pages than Kiplinger’s.
See all of the magazine results here.
Building a business magazine in China
by Chris Roush
Stephanie Mehta of Fortune interviews Tom Gorman, the publisher of Fortune China, about the publication’s 15th anniversary. Gorman has been the publisher from the beginning.
Here is an excerpt:
What made you think, 15 years ago, that China needed a business magazine?
In 1993, we did a market entry feasibility study for Time Inc. magazines in China. My company had been publishing Chinese language b2b magazines and doing market research in China since 1975 , so we had a ground floor seat from which to witness the dramatic changes before, during, and after the Open Door policy was announced in 1979.
One of our recommendations to Time Inc. in 1993 was a Chinese edition of Fortune. There were two big trends just emerging on the horizon: A huge demand for management information as China transitioned from Soviet style central planning to a hybrid form of market economics; and the emergence of a relatively affluent middle class in major Chinese cities. Both were positive underlying drivers for a magazine like Fortune.
Ironically, in making that recommendation I never imagined we would be the publishers of Fortune’s Chinese edition because Time Inc. had not traditionally been a believer in growth through licensing. In the end, some years later, we were offered the first license and enthusiastically accepted.
Read more here.
Fortune names new design director
by Chris Roush
Fortune managing editor Andy Serwer sent out the following staff announcement on Monday:
I am delighted to announce that Emily Kehe is now the Design Director of Fortune. As you know, Emily has been filling in for John Korpics since his departure. During that time she has done a superb job; designing covers and layouts, overseeing the iPad edition, managing the department and working seamlessly with Mia Diehl, the copy room, and the entire edit team. So much so that when it came time to find a permanent replacement for John, (and while we did consider other candidates), I really needed to look no further than a few doors down to Emily’s office.
As Bob Ley would say, Emily grew up in a small town—Evergreen, Colorado—but she had big city dreams. (Note: Trey Parker attended Evergreen H.S. and you can see that in early South Park episodes.) Emily went to the journalism school at the University of Miami where she studied publication design and photography. She started working in newspapers, in the graphics department at the Miami Herald in 1998, and then moved to Boston where she joined a small design firm. She worked at the Boston Globe for seven years before moving to NYC to break into magazines. “I took a chance, quit my job at the Boston Globe, moved to New York, and thankfully landed a freelance job at Fortune in 2008,” Emily says. She freelanced at a few different magazines before returning here to help John Korpics with the redesign.
I think all of us look forward to working with Emily as she extends Fortune’s rich tradition of design excellence in our magazine and in the new digital forms, and brings a strong sense of design innovation to our organization as well. Please join me in congratulating Emily!
Fortune adds two columnists
by Chris Roush
Fortune magazine managing editor Andy Serwer announced Wednesday that former FDIC Chairman Sheila Bair and award-winning journalist John Cassidy will be joining the publication as columnists.
Serwer writes, “Sheila, as you may know, is from Independence, Kansas (not Missouri), and first came to Washington as a staff counsel to Sen. Bob Dole. She’s also the author of two children’s books that teach prudent money management. How about that!
“As for John, well, he’s a Yorkshireman who was educated at Oxford, the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, and New York University. He also has written two books regarding prudent (and imprudent) money management — both for grownups, though: Dot.con and How Markets Fail.
“Sheila and John join our lineup of sluggers, all pictured here except for Dan Primack, who was in New Zealand. There’s the aforementioned Colvin, one of our most popular voices; the ultraconnected and way-smart Becky Quick of CNBC fame; Allan Sloan, probably our most high-profile columnist, who’s won so many journalism awards I can’t even count them; Washington senior editor Nina Easton, who is the ultimate inside-the-Beltway insider; and — why, lookie here! — that’s Gil Schwartz, whom you may know better as his alter ego, Stanley Bing, arguably the most creative and iconoclastic columnist on the planet. That’s a lot of heart and a lot of soul. And I hope you enjoy reading them as much as I do.”
Read more here.
Forbes hires former Fortune publisher as COO
by Chris Roush
Forbes Media has picked up a new chief operating officer, Mike Federle, a former publisher and president of rival Fortune, reports Keith Kelly of the New York Post.
Kelly writes, “The internal announcement said that Federle was going to be working on business development partnerships, new business models and operating departments, including circulation and manufacturing.
“Federle is trying to amp up the high-level executive conference business, which Fortune has been extremely successful in exploiting.
“At the time of his appointment, Federle had been the chief operating officer of Technomy, a tech conference business started by former Fortune tech writer David Kirkpatrick. Forbes said it was going to be a sponsor of the Technomy 2011 conference, and in July said it had taken a small equity position in the company.”
