Bloomberg Businessweek, previously known as BusinessWeek (and before that Business Week and The Business Week), is an American monthly business magazine published 12 times a year.[2] Since 2009, the magazine is owned by New York City-based Bloomberg L.P. The magazine debuted in New York City in September 1929.[3]
The Business Week was first published based in New York City in September 1929, weeks before the stock market crash of 1929.[4] The magazine provided information and opinions on what was happening in the business world at the time. Early sections of the magazine included marketing, labor, finance, management and Washington Outlook, which made The Business Week one of the first publications to cover national political issues that directly impacted the business world.[5]
The name of the magazine was shortened to Business Week in 1934.[6]Business Week was originally published to be a resource for business managers. However, in the 1970s, the magazine shifted its strategy and added consumers outside the business world.[3] As of 1975[update], the magazine was carrying more advertising pages annually than any other magazine in the United States.[7]
In 1976 and 1977, the magazine's name's form was changed from Business Week to BusinessWeek.[8]Businessweek began publishing its annual rankings of United States business schoolMBA programs in 1988.[9]
Businessweek suffered a decline in circulation during the late-2000s recession as advertising revenues fell one-third by the start of 2009 and the magazine's circulation fell to 936,000. In July 2009, it was reported that McGraw-Hill was trying to sell Businessweek and had hired Evercore Partners to conduct the sale.[13] Because of the magazine's liabilities, it was suggested that it might change hands for the nominal price of $1 to an investor who was willing to incur losses turning the magazine around.[14]
In late 2009, Bloomberg L.P. bought the magazine—reportedly for between $2million to $5million plus assumption of liabilities—and renamed it Bloomberg BusinessWeek.[15]
News reports published in 2019 suggest McGraw-Hill received the high end of the speculated price, at $5million, along with the assumption of debt.[16][17]
2010−2018
In early 2010, the magazine title was restyled Bloomberg Businessweek (with a lowercase "w") as part of a redesign.[18] As of 2014[update], the magazine was losing $30million per year, about half of the $60million it was reported losing in 2009.[19] Adler resigned as editor-in-chief and was replaced by Josh Tyrangiel, who had been deputy managing editor of Time magazine.[20] In 2016, Bloomberg announced changes to Businessweek, which was losing between $20 and $30 million. Nearly 30 Bloomberg News journalists were let go across the U.S., Europe and Asia and it was announced that a new version of Bloomberg Businessweek would launch the following year. In addition, editor in chief Ellen Pollock stepped down from her position and Washington Bureau Chief Megan Murphy was named as the next editor in chief.[21] Megan Murphy served as editor from November 2016;[21] until she stepped down from the role in January 2018 and Joel Weber was appointed by the editorial board in her place.[22]
"The Big Hack" controversy
On October 4, 2018, Bloomberg Businessweek published "The Big Hack: How China Used a Tiny Chip to Infiltrate U.S. Companies", an article by Jordan Robertson and Michael Riley which claimed that China had hacked dozens of technology corporations including Amazon and Apple by placing an extra integrated circuit on a Supermicro server motherboard during manufacturing.[23]
Pingwest, a media company founded in Silicon Valley and based in Beijing, identified the chip mentioned in the article as a balun. Pingwest pointed out that its size made it impossible to implement any form of attack; it did not have the storage space required to store commands that would allow a hacker to infiltrate the hardware. They suggested that Businessweek had underestimated security standards employed by Amazon and Apple.[24]
In 2021, Bloomberg published a follow-up article standing by its allegations.[28][29]
Switch to monthly publishing
On Dec. 1, 2023, TheNew York Times reported a memo was sent out to Bloomberg Businessweek staff members informing them the publication will relaunch sometime in 2024 as a monthly magazine and be redesigned with “heavier paper stock for a more high-end look and feel.”[30]
Brad Stone was appointed editor of the magazine in January 2024 and will oversee the transition to monthly publication. The magazine switched to publishing bi-weekly as part of the transition, starting in January.[31]
Redesign
In early 2010, the magazine title was restyled Bloomberg Businessweek (with a lowercase "w") as part of a redesign. During the following years, the bold, eclectic, playful, and memetic face of Businessweek was cultivated largely by Businessweek's Creative director, Richard Turley then Rob Vargas (from 2014), and Deputy Creative director Tracy Ma (from 2011 through 2016). During her time at Businessweek, Ma worked on over 200 issues.[32] Now she is the Visual Editor at The New York Times Styles desk.
Additional versions
International editions of Businessweek were available on newsstands in Europe and Asia until 2005 when publication of regional editions was suspended to help increase foreign readership of customized European and Asian versions of Businessweek's website.[33] However, the same year the Russian edition was launched in collaboration with Rodionov Publishing House.[34]
At the same time, Businessweek partnered with InfoPro Management, a publishing and market research company based in Beirut, Lebanon, to produce the Arabic version of the magazine in 22 Arab countries.[35]
In 2011, Bloomberg Businessweek continued the magazine's international expansion and announced plans to introduce a Polish-language edition called Bloomberg Businessweek Polska, as well as a Chinese edition which was relaunched in November 2011.[36][37][38]
Bloomberg Businessweek launched an iPad version of the magazine using Apple's subscription billing service in 2011.[39][40] The iPad edition was the first to use this subscription method, which allows one to subscribe via an iTunes account.[41] There are over 100,000 subscribers to the iPad edition of Businessweek.[42]
Honors and awards
In the year 2011, Adweek named Bloomberg Businessweek as the top business magazine in the country.[43] In 2012, Bloomberg Businessweek won the general excellence award for general-interest magazines at the National Magazine Awards.[44] Also in 2012, Bloomberg Businessweek editor Josh Tyrangiel was named magazine editor of the year by Ad Age.[45] In 2014, Bloomberg Businessweek won a Society of American Business Editors and Writers Best in Business award for magazines, general excellence.[46]
In 2016, the Online Journalism Awards highlighted Bloomberg Businessweek's explanatory reporting work on “What Is Code?”[47][48]
Employees
Notable present and former employees of the magazine include:[49]
^Delbridge, Emily (November 21, 2019). "The 8 Best Business Magazines of 2020". The Balance Small Business. New York City: Dotdash. Best for Business News: Bloomberg Businessweek. Retrieved 8 Feb 2020.
^Clifford, Stephanie; Carr, David (2009-10-13). "Bloomberg Buys BusinessWeek From McGraw-Hill". The New York Times. ISSN0362-4331. Archived from the original on 2019-12-04. Retrieved 2019-12-04. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but the price was said to be near $5 million, plus assumption of liabilities, which were $31.9 million as of April.
^Tani, Maxwell (2018-01-04). "Bloomberg Businessweek hires a new editor". Business Insider. Insider, Inc. Retrieved 2019-01-10. Bloomberg Businessweek announced a new editor on Thursday, shuffling its editorial structure. According to three people at Bloomberg, Bloomberg Markets magazine editor Joel Weber will take over the company's flagship Businessweek magazine, succeeding current editor Megan Murphy.
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