McGraw-Hill Companies (MHP) recently declared that it has completed the sale of BusinessWeek to Bloomberg, the leading financial data, news and analytics provider.
Bloomberg has paid $5 million in cash and has agreed to undertake BusinessWeek’s liabilities, including potential severance payments to nearly 400 employees who might be laid off.
McGraw-Hill had been seeking strategic options for BusinessWeek since July 2009. Like other print publications, the magazine has long been grappling with the slump in advertising demand amid the global meltdown, as advertisers are migrating to the Internet due to increasing online readership and lower ad prices than print. Advertising pages in BusinessWeek’s global edition fell 29.3% in third-quarter 2009.
After parting with the struggling magazine, McGraw-Hill will be able to concentrate more on financial, education, and business data and analytics segments.
Bloomberg’s interest in the struggling magazine is part of its business strategy to sustain expansion beyond its core business. The company has a news service, publishes books and magazines, and circulates business information through TV, radio and the Internet.
Bloomberg has also struck a deal with Washington Post Company (WPO) to launch a global news service, “The Washington Post News Service with Bloomberg News”, which will provide selective news elements to newspapers, websites and other subscription based clients. The news service is scheduled to commence on Jan 1, 2010.
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