The BusinessWeek sales saga is over and Bloomberg, whose initial approach were rumored to have sparked the sale in the first place, is the winner.
Business Week’s On Media blog cited “knowledgeable sources” in saying the franchise sold for $5 million or less of cash and the assumption of associated liabilities.
PaidContent.org had a good interview with Bloomberg’s Normal Pearlstine about the transaction. Pearlstine says all the right things, but the bottom line is that BusinessWeek is going to a company that makes money by selling information. That’s the best place for a information-driven franchise to go. Pearlstine explains that Bloomberg’s thinking in the transaction was driven by the value of the weekly brand and the potential power of the combination of the two organizations.
The future evolution of BusinessWeek will be fascinating to watch. In the 1980’s, when I was doing analysis of the business information markets, Bloomberg turned the financial information market upside down with a volume approach to high-value information. The acquisition of Business Week, one of the most venerable brands in business information, shows how profoundly Bloomberg’s vision of the future was right.
Clips from the PaidContent article, along with the link, are below.
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