TALKING BIZ NEWS EXCLUSIVE
Three former editorial staff members of the defunct Crain’s publication Financial Week are prepping to launch a new site called CFOZone.com next month that hopes to combine professional social networking with editorial content.
Ronald Fink, the editor of CFOZone.com and former executive editor of Financial Week, told Talking Biz News Tuesday that he hopes the new site will go live in two weeks.
“The way I’m looking at it, it’s kind of a cross between Financial Week and CIOZone,” said Fink. “It’s news, analysis, commentary, community and tools for CFOs and other corporate finance leaders.”
The other two former Financial Week staff members involved in the launch are managing editor John Goff, who was the Web editor at Financial Week, and senior editor Matthew Quinn, who was assistant managing editor at Financial Week. Crain Communication closed the print version of Financial Week in December and the online version in March.
CFOZone.com will be a sister site to CIOZone.com, which was launched 18 months ago. The parent company is PSN Inc.
“Financial Week was more of a news site,” said Fink, also the former deputy editor of CFO Magazine. “Here, the vision is to create a professional social network in this space.”
The site, however, will have a Reuters news feed, and an editorial staff that will produce original news and analysis. CFOZone.com plans to use freelancers as well, said Fink.
The site wants to attract CFOs, treasurers, accountants, controllers and others involved in company finance as members, getting them to post blogs, comments and forum threads on topics that are dearest to their hearts.
“The emphasis is on generating a lot of repeat visits among a select audience as opposed to getting millions of visitors,” said Fink. He added that there are CIOZone.com advertisers who are interested in the new site.
“It’s like a new lease of life. We were very into FinancialWeek.com. We were knocked for a loop when they pulled the plug, not that it was a complete surprise. It wasn’t given a long enough leash. We’re ecstatic to have this opportunity.”
Reach Fink at rfink@cfozone.com. Goff is at jgoff@cfozone.com, while Quinn is at mquinn@cfozone.com.
