Bloomberg poised, but internal politics will decide fate

Marketwatch media columnist Jon Friedman writes Wednesday that the hiring of Norman Pearlstine to be chief content officer at Bloomberg News signals the business wire is poised for “something big,” but internal politics will ultimately decide what those changes will be.

Friedman writes, “His presence underscores what I — a former employee of the company from 1993 to 1999 — would call ‘the two Bloombergs’ in the news division.

“One is the faction of employees who steadfastly built the company throughout the 1990s while Michael Bloomberg (an inspirational leader) was in charge.

“The other group, which is significantly smaller but highly influential, is made up of the many Wall Street Journal veterans who have gotten senior management positions under Matthew Winkler, Bloomberg’s founding editor-in-chief and himself a Wall Street Journal veteran. (The Journal, like MarketWatch, the publisher of this column, is owned by News Corp.

“Which faction will ultimately prevail at Bloomberg: the lifers or the newcomers? It matters because the faction that wins will run the newsroom.”

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