Shares of Financial Times parent rise on takeover speculation

Shares of Pearson Plc, the parent of financial newspaper Financial Post, rose amid speculation that it’s a potential takeover target, according to a Reuters story. The Reuters story stated, “‘The credit default swaps have been widening on Pearson and this is a lead indicator of takeover speculation,’ said ABN AMRO analyst Paul Gooden. “A spokeswoman […]

Sixteen vying for 11 SABEW board seats

In an election that could greatly change the face of Society of American Business Editors and Writers governance, 16 people have volunteered to run for 11 vacant seats on SABEW’s board of governors. An unusually high number of the 18 governor seats are up for grabs. Traditionally, six terms end each spring at our annual […]

Dow Jones launches news feed for traders

Dow Jones & Co., the parent of the Wall Street Journal, Barron’s and Marketwatch, is launching a new elementized news feed that will deliver computer-readable news directly into quantitative analysis models and automated trading programs. In other words, stock and bond traders will be able to make trades almost instantly based on news stories. A […]

Reuters revenue expected to rise on better terminal sales

Business news and information company Reuters Group Plc reported that its fourth-quarter earnings fell less than expected, and it’s looking for strong growth in 2007 on more sales of its terminals, which provide news and data. Bloomberg reporter Mark Herlihy wrote, “Revenue growth in the Americas region was 8 percent last year, driven by sales […]

CNBC optimistic, Bloomberg sober in stock market coverage

D.J. Waletzky has a nice found-up of how the business news media covered the drop in the Dow Jones industrial average on Tuesday on the MediaChannel web site. The drop was the biggest since the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. Waletzky wrote, “CNBC was optimistic even in the face of disaster. CNBC talking head Larry […]

JetBlue's problems change BusinessWeek's cover

Airline JetBlue’s recent problems — passengers were left on planes on runways for up to 11 hours last week during snow storms — caused BusinessWeek to make a last-minute change to this week’s cover, according to Reuters. Robert MacMillan wrote, “BusinessWeek magazine’s March 5 edition, out on Thursday, features a cover story on its first-ever […]

Stock listings going the way of Reuter's pigeons

Florida Times-Union reader advocate Wayne Ezell compares the paper’s decision to cut its stock listings in favor of sending readers to its web site for stock price information to changes that Paul Julius Reuter made in building his wire service in the 19th and 20th centuries. Ezell wrote, “The pigeons delivered the goods in two […]

Business press wrong about weather and oil prices

TheStreet.com’s Marek Fuchs points out that Reuters and the Associated Press are getting it wrong when tying changes in the weather to prices for crude oil in the commodities market. Fuchs wrote, “Let’s start with a headline from this morning, careful not to ensnare our pant leg on too much nonsense. Reuters, in its infinite […]

Business media misfires on drug company takeover

TheStreet.com’s Marek Fuchs criticizes the business media for reporting that French drug company Sanofi-Aventis and Bristol-Myers Squibb were going to merge and create the world’s largest drug company based on an unsourced French newsletter report. Fuchs wrote, “That some newsletter somewhere specializes in thin reporting is neither a great surprise nor a business-world tragedy — […]

Friedman: It's all CNBC's fault

The public relations disaster for CNBC that has resulted from the disclosure that anchor Maria Bartiromo took a trip on the Citigroup jet that led to the ouster of one of its executives is the network’s fault, writes Marketwatch media columnist Jon Friedman. Friedman wrote, “Bartiromo’s image as a hard-working, responsible journalist was shattered. And […]