CBS to launch business news site

Peter Kafka of All Things Digital reports that CBS, which sold its stake in Marketwatch earlier this decade to Dow Jones & Co., plans to launch a new business news site called MoneyWatch in March.

Kafka writes, “The real one should launch in mid-March, says Greg Mason, who came to CBS via CNET and is overseeing the operation. He’s hired Eric Schurenberg, the former managing editor of Time Warner’s (TWX) Money magazine, to handle the editorial, which will focus on personal finance rather than general business news.

“Mason is hiring additional folks in advance of the launch, including on-air talent; he wouldn’t divulge total staff size but I played the higher/lower game with him and I get the sense there will be something like a dozen people hired for the site.

“Obviously, it’s an interesting time to be launching a finance-oriented site, and more on that in a minute. But what’s also interesting about MoneyWatch is that it’s a project dreamed up after CBS (CBS) bought CNET last summer for $1.8 billion. And it’s the first significant example of the broadcast network and the Web site integrating their operations, at least on the content side.”

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