Bloomberg buys BusinessWeek

Posted by Lisette García on October 14, 2009 at 10:32 AM

Bloomberg announced yesterday it has reached an agreement to buy BusinessWeek magazine from McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., Globe & Mail reported today.

Norman Pearlstine, who formerly worked for Time Inc. and Wall Street Journal, will become BusinessWeek's chairman. He joined Bloomberg last year as chief content officer, according to Wednesday's report in paidContent. The deal is scheduled to close Dec. 1.

The loss-making weekly "with loads of liabilities and hundreds of staff" in today's market is not worth as little as you think, Press Gazette's The Wire today observed, noting that although terms of the deal were not disclosed, BusinessWeek sources said the price was likely between US$2 and $5 million.

However, early estimates put the sale price at a nominal $1, the Financial Times reported.