Financial and news media giant Bloomberg LP yesterday won a bid to buy BusinessWeek from its parent McGraw-Hill Cos. The deal ends months of speculation that began when the magazine was put up for sale in mid-July.
The deal, Bloomberg’s first-ever major acquisition, includes both the print magazine and BusinessWeek.com, although it has yet to be determined whether the Bloomberg and BusinessWeek websites will be merged, according to a BusinessWeek report. The Bloomberg name will be incorporated into the magazine’s logo and title, BW added.
Terms of the offer were not disclosed, but according to the BW report, knowledgeable sources place Bloomberg’s cash offer at between $2 million and $5 million. Bloomberg also has agreed to assume liabilities, including potential severance payments, although it is as yet unclear how much of the magazine’s 400-plus staff may be cut, the BW report continued.
BusinessWeek has long been a major source of MBA news, devoting a channel of its website to covering management education and publishing an annual ranking of the nation’s top business schools. The BusinessWeek acquisition marks a shift by Bloomberg into more consumer-focused media, although it remains to be seen if and how the magazine’s coverage of business schools will be impacted.
The deal is anticipated to close by December 1st, and BusinessWeek’s staff is expected to move across town to Bloomberg’s Manhattan offices by May 1st. Officials from Bloomberg will begin meeting with BusinessWeek staffers in the coming weeks.
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