Friedman: BusinessWeek deal doesn't make sense for Bloomberg

Marketwatch.com media columnist Jon Friedman, a former writer at both BusinessWeek and Bloomberg, writes that the deal to acquire the business weekly magazine by the terminal and data company doesn’t make much sense to him.

Friedman writes, “So far, Bloomberg has yet to dominate any of the consumer-oriented businesses that it rolled out in support of its flagship enterprise, the highly respected Bloomberg Terminal. It is a staple for Wall Street traders and bankers because of the blizzard of data and news that it offers.

“Further, why is Bloomberg eager to acquire an 80-year-old weekly business magazine, which is likely to lose money? It has dim prospects for the near future because of the media’s uncertain prospects for advertising revenue in newspapers and magazines.

“You’d hate to conclude that privately owned Bloomberg is doing this deal because of a desire to satisfy an executive’s ego. Still, it seems likely that whoever is driving this proposed acquisition will get a great deal of criticism.”

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