Crain’s looks to diversity as biz journals are flat

Crain Communication is seeking to diversify its operations amid flat growth at its weekly business newspapers in Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit and New York, writes Robert Channick of the Chicago Tribune.

Channick writes, “Crain’s Chicago Business is the oldest and largest of its four weekly business journals, which also serve Cleveland, Detroit and New York. The company’s portfolio of trade publications includes Automotive News, Advertising Age, Modern Healthcare and Plastics News. Last year, Crain Communications had $230 million in revenue, a 5 percent annual increase, according to the company.

“Crain’s Chicago grew its revenue by 2 percent last year and 5 percent in 2013, but the city journals as a whole were flat, prompting a ‘redeployment of capital’ in New York and Chicago, executives said.

“Crain’s Chicago Business was hard hit by the Great Recession, reducing its editorial staff from about 30 to the mid-20s in 2009. Sources say remaining staffers took a pay cut until salaries and employee counts were restored. But while Crain’s Chicago is ‘solidly in the black,’ according to Snyder, the need to redeploy resources led to the recent layoffs, reducing the newsroom from 35 to 30.

“Crain’s New York Business, which started in 1985, saw even more drastic cuts, trimming 12 positions last week, or roughly 40 percent of its editorial staff. No layoffs are planned for the Cleveland or Detroit city papers, which Crain said are off to strong starts this year.”

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