Bloomberg, Dow Jones aim to keep expanding

Sean Callahan of BtoB magazine writes Monday about the moves being made by Bloomberg LP and Dow Jones & Co. to increase their presence in the business journalism industry.

Callahan writes, “‘Both companies are trying to broaden their revenue streams,’ said Roland DeSilva, managing partner of media investment bank DeSilva & Phillips. ‘They can’t stop swimming. If they do, they’ll drown. Both companies are very powerful brands with very powerful reach, and if they don’t continue extending their brands the way they’re doing now, they become vulnerable to competition—sometimes competition they don’t even know exists yet.’

“Privately held Bloomberg said the annual growth in its terminal business, in this difficult time for the financial industry, is about 2%. ‘They’re selling to an audience that’s been significantly depleted over the past year with various casualties on Wall Street. I don’t think they’re selling a lot to Lehman Brothers anyway,’ said Seth Alpert, partner-managing director at media investment bank AdMedia Partners.

“Similarly, the Journal, although its online and print circulation has increased slightly, is suffering like other newspapers on the advertising side of the ledger. In remarks last week, even Rupert Murdoch, chairman-CEO of News Corp., Dow Jones’ parent company, acknowledged the industry as a whole is hurting. ‘When you open up a paper today, the most depressing news is often about newspapers themselves,’ he said.”

Read more here.