Bloomberg columnist Reilly returns to WSJ "Heard on the Street" team

TALKING BIZ NEWS EXCLUSIVE

David Reilly, a columnist at Bloomberg since the beginning of 2009 covering banks, accounting and the financial system, is returning to The Wall Street Journal‘s “Heard on the Street” team, an internal memo issued Tuesday afternoon confirms.

In the memo, Thorold Baker, who oversees the 13-person “Heard on the Street” team, writes, “David was a founding member of our expanded Heard on the Street team, and played a key role in our coverage of the financial crisis. His deep examinations into the balance sheets of some of the biggest financial firms helped investors spot the most vulnerable companies in the system.

“David spent nine years at the Journal in Brussels, London and New York as an editor and reporter. Along with two colleagues, he won an Overseas Press Club award for coverage of the implosion of Italian dairy giant Parmalat and in 2008 with three colleagues won a Loeb award for beat writing for coverage of the financial crisis. Besides his overseas assignments with the Journal, David has lived and worked as journalist in Budapest, Warsaw and Dublin.

“In his new role at the Journal, David will contribute to the Heard on the Street column, joining the 13-member global team of reporters that produce a stream of timely and smart analysis and commentary throughout the day.

“He will also edit the Ahead of the Tape column, which is written by Kelly Evans. Bringing the Ahead of the Tape column, which appears on the front page of the Money & Investing section on weekdays, under the umbrella of the Heard on the Street team will improve coordination between the two columns and allow us to inject a bit of the Heard DNA into the Tape column.”

Reilly graduated from New York University in 1988 with a degree in journalism and political science. He also worked at TheStreet.com, a financial news Web site, and several English-language business newspapers in Central Europe.