Talking Biz News

Information about business
journalism from the
Carolina Business News Initiative.

Barron’s said Monday that will make its subscription content available to all users for four days beginning this Saturday in conjunction with this weekend’s issue featuring the new section targeting high net-worth individuals.

This is the second issue of PENTA, which targets ‘pentamillionaires,’ individuals with at least $5 million in assets. The Barrons.com open house continues through Tuesday, Dec. 1.

“We continually seek ways for advertisers to reach our extremely high-quality audience as well as avenues to broaden that audience and reach new readers,” said Ed Finn, editor and president of Barron’s, in a statement. “Working with CFA Institute for this Open House is a perfect example of an execution that benefits both the client and the reader, and we look forward to showcasing our content to a new audience.”

Barrons.com currently offers a mix of free and subscriber-only content. The open house will give non-subscribers access to articles from the latest issue of the magazine as well as online exclusives such as
Barron’s Take, exclusive commentary and insights, and investing ideas.

John Wasik is a personal finance columnist for Bloomberg News, and his last two books, “The Cul-de-Sac Syndrome” and “The Audacity of Help: Obama’s Economic Plan and the Remaking of America,” have been published by Bloomberg Press, which announced Friday that it was closing.

Here is what Wasik had to say about the closing:

“They said they might sell their list or find some other way of winding down the division and offered to place the publishing staff elsewhere in the company.

“For my part, having published 13 books, my publishing experience with Bloomberg Press was the most positive and professional experience I’ve ever had. The small staff was committed to their titles, listened to my marketing ideas, contracted with outside specialists to do internet and radio promotion and  didn’t abandon me when I had more review copies to send out long after the pub dates.

“They were excellent to work with under some pretty trying circumstances. I had more interaction with their marketing team than any other publisher in 22 years of writing books. That’s a rarity, considering how much the business book market is hurting.”

TheStreet.com had the highest percentage gain in visitors among all Web sites in October, according to the latest data from the comScore Media Matrix.

TheSreet.com reported 8.5 million visitors in October, up 96 percent from the 4.4 million it reported in September.

The next-closest increase was the 71 percent increase reported by BuddyTV. General Motors had a 66 percent increase. No other business news sites ranked in the top 10 in terms of visitor gains or overall visitors.

Technology news sites saw a 9 percent increase in visitors for the month, up to 65 million visitors. That put them among the top 10 site categories in terms of percentage gains for visitors.

Read more here.

Marion Manekar of The Big Money writes Monday about incoming BusinessWeek editor Josh Tyrangiel and what he must to do turn around the magazine’s financial performance.

Manekar writes, “On the execution side lies Tyrangiel’s ease at dealing with difficult personalities. With a complex mix of editors — Pearlstine, Winkler, and former Time managing editor Jim Kelly — all floating around in the new BusinessWeek stew, Tyrangiel’s positive energy and lack of pretension may be one of his biggest assets.

“Where BusinesWeek goes from here will be a litmus test for magazines and media. The Bloomberg team swears by the magazine and says they plan to invest in it heavily. The imperatives of the 21^st century surely mean they will take another run at figuring out BusinessWeek.com. And despite Tyrangiel’s lack of formal credentials as a business journalist, he had tremendous success in building Time.com’s Web traffic over a few years. (Of course, he had corporate access to the CNN.com juggernaut for help.)

“Time’s great limitation was its cultural baggage as a weekly magazine. No matter how much Time.com changed the organization’s metabolism, it would always be thought of by readers as a weekly. BusinessWeek, on the other hand, gets a new lease on life if it can fuse Bloomberg’s reputation as an instant-information service with BusinessWeek’s reputation as a trend-watching guide.

“To paraphrase the old candy bar commercial, they’re going to take two great tastes and make them taste great together — like peanut butter and chocolate.”

Read more here.

Richard Perez-Pena of the New York Times writes Monday about how Consumer Reports magazine has advertised, for the fourth consecutive year, in newspapers about the traps of Christmas shopping.

Perez-Pena writes, “The new ad, appearing in USA Today, says, ‘It’s time we told retailers how you feel about their pushy holiday-season practices.’ Then it cites results from a national survey showing that most Americans do not like it when store employees ask them to sign up for store credit cards, ask for phone numbers or e-mail addresses, push extended product warranties or fail to open more checkout lanes when there are lines.

“Consumer Reports said it had paid $143,000 for the ad.

“‘I wouldn’t say there’s less need’ than in the boom years, James A. Guest, president and chief executive of Consumers Union, the advocacy group that publishes the magazine, said. ‘People are buying less, but people want to be smarter buyers.’

“Extended warranties are a particular peeve for Consumer Reports, which has inveighed against them for years. They were the subject of the first in its series of holiday season ads, in 2006, prompting an opposing ad in USA Today from the Service Contract Industry Council, a group representing the sellers of those warranties.”

Read more here.

TALKING BIZ NEWS EXCLUSIVE

The New York Financial Writers Association held its 68th annual Financial Follies on Friday, Nov. 20, at the Marriott Marquis in Times Square, and more than 1,000 business journalists, PR folk and corporate executives attended.

The intrepid New York society correspondent for Talking Biz News filed this report:

“As a relatively new member of New York City’s financial press, I was eager to attend the Financial Follies, the financial media’s ‘premier event’ (according to their Web site) and see what the hell it was all about.

“Ultimately, it’s a little hilarious that the event is called the ‘follies,’ assessing some of the damage people caused throughout the night, but hats off to the New York Financial Writers Association for throwing together quite the party.

“I made my way to the Marriott Marquis at 7:15 p.m., having missed 45 minutes of the cocktail hour, which ended up being alright since I didn’t end up paying for drinks at the cash bar before consuming copious amounts of free wine at the dinner table. The cash bar was, unfortunately, strike one, as I heard drinks have been free in past years. I guess the economy still has some work to do before that’s a recurrence.

“In the Follies’ favor, it was pretty fascinating  to see all the reporters looking dapper in tuxedos and dresses sans frantic looks/dark circles under the eyes/cups of coffee in hand –- we actually looked like a group of PR people. Anyway, I took my seat at my table, where I was the guest of one of the exchanges, and embarked on some wine to make meeting my dinner buddies a little less awkward.

“Throughout salad and soup — the food, by the way, was fantastic — the NYFWA and others performed skits and sang songs poking fun at financial news items throughout the year. Some of them were kind of funny, but most gave me that sinking/crawling feeling you get while watching something horribly embarrassing happen to another person, i.e., most things Michael Scott does on the Office.

“The first song, which made a very lasting first impression, was  ’Smooth Criminal,’ making fun of Bernie Madoff’s sexual shortcomings. A sample of the lyrics: ‘Bernie, why the Ponzi/ You were so cool, like the Fonzi/Was it just for the payday?’ Some groans followed that one.  

“A song joking about the government’s automaker’s bailout followed, to the tune of ‘Drive My Car’ by the Beatles. The chorus was a little bit better: ‘Big Three you can still make cars/We’ll appoint a dozen Czars/The Economics work on Mars/But we’re gonna fund you.’

“Another sampling, to the tune of Ned Washington’s ‘Rawhide’: ‘We’re Goldman Goldman Goldman/Though the world is broken/We keep profits flowin’/Worldwide.’

“To be fair, CNN and CNBC put together a pretty funny skit featuring the famed Balloon Boy that seemed to get the most positive reception throughout the room, but it was kind of a relief when the skits were over so the guests could focus on the fantastic espresso-rubbed filet mignon that was part of the main course.

“I know they weren’t trying for Grammys or anything, but that Fonzi line…

“As dinner progressed, bottles of wine were fast emptying at tables throughout the room. Judging by the minimum of 10 my table of 12 zipped through, I’d say most of the 1,000-plus guests were doing exactly what a Wall Street Journal reporter sitting near me suggested: ‘Let’s get WASTED!’ Nice.

“As dinner wound down, people made their way upstairs for an after party sponsored by…I’m not sure. All I know is that as I walked in, there was a big sign that said ‘Siemen’s Liquidity Lounge’ and I cracked up like a 12-year-old. What? I told you I’m young. At least one business journalist got cut off at the bar. No big surprise there. A DJ was spinning wedding-type tunes, and beer and liquor from the open bar quickly extinguished any reservations finance executives — guys from LPL Financial and PNC, in particular — had about getting down.  

“Who knew the financial press had such sweet dance moves?”

EDITOR’S NOTE: Among the business media outlets buying tables were Bloomberg News (two tables), Thomson Reuters and CNBC.com. Of course, the PR firms and companies bought most of the tables to wine and dine the reporters. 

Michael Mandel, the chief economist for BusinessWeek magazine, confirmed on his blog that he will leave the magazine when it is sold to Bloomberg LP.

Mandel writes, “To my friends at BusinessWeek, both old and new: We had a fantastic run, and I loved working with you all. Sometimes we were good, sometimes we were great, but we always had integrity and soul (yes, that’s the word I mean).

“To Norm, Josh, and all my BusinessWeek friends who are going over to Bloomberg: Good luck! I know that you are going to build an exciting new magazine. It won’t be the same as the old BusinessWeek, but times have changed, and it’s time for BusinessWeek to change with them.

“As for me? I’ve got definite plans that I’m not ready to post about yet. I will, however, put up a new email address before closing down shop here. I will continue blogging at a new location, with a hiatus of a month or two.”

Read more here.

Mandel, who was named 2006 economic journalist of the year by the World Leadership Forum, was one of the true voices of BusinessWeek who made the magazine. He holds a PhD in economics from Harvard and was responsible for formulating the magazine’s coverage of economic policy.

Mandel had been at the magazine since 1989.

TALKING BIZ NEWS EXCLUSIVE

A higher percentage of BusinessWeek’s editorial staff overseas are maintaining their jobs in comparison to the domestic reporters and editors, where the cuts were larger as the magazine prepares to be sold to Bloomberg LP.

An estimated 30 percent to 40 percent of the domestic editorial staff have lost their jobs in the past week as a result of the deal.

Thanks partly to stiffer labor protection laws in Europe, most of the European BusinessWeek staff will be staying on after the sale. That incudes Andy Reinhardt, the Europe channel editor on BW.com; Stanley Reed, the London bureau chief; Kerry Capell, senior writer in London; Mark Scott, correspondent in London; and Carol Matlack, Paris bureau chief.

However, Frankfurt bureau chief and European regional manager Jack Ewing is leaving for a job with the New York Times/International Herald Tribune in Frankfurt.

In Asia, Bruce Einhorn, the Asia channel editor and Asian regional manager in Hong Kong, is staying, as is senior writer Frederik Balfour in Hong Kong. So are Dexter “Tiff” Roberts in Beijing, Ian Rowley in Tokyo, and Moon Ilhwan in Seoul.

However, Kenji Hall in Tokyo and two administrative assistants will be leaving.

It’s unclear for many of these editorial staff members as to what they’ll be doing in the future. Some will likely join the Bloomberg News wire, while others will stay with the magazine.

Jon Friedman of Marketwatch.com reports that the Bloomberg Press unit of Bloomberg LP will be closed once the company completes its acquisition of BusinessWeek magazine.

Friedman writes, “The division published a handful of titles a year and had eight staffers. Bloomberg hopes to place the employees elsewhere in its company.

“Bloomberg is going through a transition of sorts. It acquired BusinessWeek from McGraw-Hill and expects to spend enough money to make BusinessWeek successful.

“One of Bloomberg’s objectives is to increase its stature and profile on Main Street. It already is a powerhouse in Wall Street trading rooms. Its array of data and news is deemed invaluable by Wall Street professionals and the company wants to broaden its readership beyond securities and money-management professionals.”

Read more here.

Bloomberg Press publishes books for financial professionals as well as books of general interest on investing, economics, current affairs, and policy affecting sophisticated investors. More than 140 titles have been released since 1996. The books are written by leading practitioners and authorities, including Bloomberg News reporters and columnists, and are published in more than 20 languages.

Market News International’s parent announced that it has acquired Need to Know News, a Washington-based news firm specializing in the delivery of economic statistics.

A Market News story states, “Employees of the firms were informed of the transaction in a joint statement by Market News International President Michael Connor and the CEO and founder of NTKN John Harada, who will remain a consultant to the combined company.

“‘We had our first discussion about bringing these two companies together at the very beginning of the year,’ the statement said. ‘While that was a very theoretical and preliminary conversation, we could see then that there were some unique and interesting possibilities that would come out of such a combination within the larger framework of the Deutsche Boerse Group.’

“Deutsche Boerse Group, which completed its purchase of Market News International in January from a Shanghai-based Xinhua Finance, offers trading specialists through its Market Data and Analytics arm a range of price data, trading statistics, analyses and indices of economic activity.

“Market News International, founded in 1983 and headquartered in New York, provides breaking economic and financial news, analysis and data from its bureaus in Washington, New York, Chicago, Beijing, Berlin, Brussels, Frankfurt, London, Paris, Singapore, Tokyo and Shanghai and correspondents in Latin America and Canada. Major components of its menu of news include intensive coverage of central banks, government finance and financial markets delivered to trading professionals and other media, including newspapers, Web sites and news services.”

Read more here.