Categories: OLD Media Moves

A peek into the plans, including acquisitions, at Bloomberg Media

Jon Fine of BusinessWeek writes about the changes that will occur at Bloomberg Media, the business news operation’s TV, radio and online platforms, with the hiring of new CEO Andy Lack.

Fine writes, “Still, Bloomberg’s initial moves are likely to shore up what’s already in place. Lack was hired in no small part to revamp Bloomberg’s TV operation, which, Doctoroff says, has ‘not been what it should be.’ Bloomberg’s cable channel is sometimes forgotten in the new CNBC/Fox Business Network dichotomy, but it currently reaches about 58 million U.S. homes. Doctoroff says that could swell to 70 million in ’09. CNBC, for which I am an on-air contributor, is in more than 90 million U.S. homes. Fox Business Network reaches around 43 million. (CNBC has a much bigger lead over Bloomberg in reaching non-U.S. households.)

“Next year also will bring major changes to the exceedingly prosaic Bloomberg.com, to make it more friendly to those who don’t spend their days intravenously connected to a Bloomberg terminal. Doctoroff says such changes will be visible in the first half of the year. He also suggests that attenuated staffing at newspapers could mean opportunity, though it’s hard for me to imagine Bloomberg churning out stories about local businesses in second-tier U.S. markets.

“And, interestingly, ‘we’re looking at potential acquisitions,’ says Pearlstine. ‘We’re just sort of saying: ‘Hey, we’re looking for good ideas.’ ‘ This is a new notion for Bloomberg, which to date has exclusively generated its own media properties. Doctoroff refused to comment on specific acquisitions, and outside executives familiar with the deal markets find it hard to believe Bloomberg would go into anything big. (Before this rumor gets resurrected again, let’s knock it down: Michael Bloomberg has disavowed interest in a bid for The New York Times, which another mayoral campaign would complicate in any event.)”