BusinessWeek could be yours for $1

Posted Jul 14th 2009 5:15PM by Zac Bissonnette
Filed under: Magazines

A subscription to BusinessWeek will cost you $46 for $46 issues -- an 80% savings off the newsstand price!

Or you could just buy the company and have done with it. McGraw-Hill (NYSE: MHP) is exploring a sale of the beleaguered icon, but the magazine's huge operating losses could mean it will fetch just $1, according to some experts.

The reason? With annual losses estimated at anywhere from $10 million to $75 million, acquiring the business would cost huge sums of money for at least a few years -- even if a miraculous turnaround can be engineered. Time Inc., Forbes and Conde Nast are reportedly not seen as suitors.

BusinessWeek's advertising revenues fell by one-third in the first half of 2009 as financial services companies looked to cut costs.

What's fascinating about this story is that BusinessWeek has been published by McGraw-Hill since 1929. And now that 80 years of stewardship will come to an end -- with McGraw-Hill realizing nothing from the sale except the jettisoning of a distraction and opportunity to avoid large annual losses.

Former BusinessWeek reporter turned blogger Gary Weiss writes that "Personally I'd like to see BW go to Joe Mansueto, who worked wonders with Fast Company, one of the rare journalism moguls who cares about magazines."

Tags: BusinessWeek, McGraw-Hill, MHP

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

7-14-2009 @ 7:35PM

Kent said...

I would like to see BW continue on as long as it can. A fine magazine for creditability and accuracy on the business and political world at large. It has the guts to state opinions which are mostly correct unlike other publications that leave the reader with only a question.