Categories: OLD Media Moves

Is Bloomberg vs. Dow Jones war looming?

David Carr of the New York Times wonders whether the recent aggressive moves by Bloomberg L.P. signal an impending war with Dow Jones & Co., the parent of The Wall Street Journal, Dow Jones Newswires, Marketwatch.com and Barron’s, for business media supremacy.

Carr writes, “In adding muscles for general news and consumer business news, Bloomberg L.P. is positioning itself for what many think will be a winner-take-most race to be the dominant global information provider. Both efforts could position Bloomberg to take on Dow Jones, owned by News Corporation, which has a hold on general business consumers with The Wall Street Journal and a highly-competitive presence in breaking news with Dow Jones Newswires. (Reuters is a business information behemoth with general news chops that must be contended with as well.)

“Bloomberg’s growing battle with Dow Jones took on some momentum back in July, when it grabbed four Pulitzer Prize-winning veterans of The Wall Street Journal. And let’s not forget that Matthew Winkler, editor in chief of Bloomberg, is a Wall Street Journal alum, as is Norman Pearlstine, now chief content officer of Bloomberg. Those kind of journalistic assets probably are not going to content themselves with having their work live within the four corners of a Bloomberg screen, so at some point, this skirmish is probably going to break out into a shooting war.

“Dow Jones has been tacking toward general news ever since Rupert Murdoch bought the company, and despite some public worrying that he would diminish the newspaper, it still is a first-read among much of the business intelligentsia. (The New York Times is a significant player in this clash of titans, but that part of the story is probably best covered elsewhere.)”

Read more here.

Recent Posts

Dynamo hires former Business Insider executive editor Harrington

Former Business Insider executive editor Rebecca Harrington has been hired by Dynamo to be its…

2 days ago

Bloomberg TV hires Kerubo as desk producer

Bloomberg Television has hired Brenda Kerubo as a desk producer in London. She will be covering Europe's…

2 days ago

Jittery CNBC staff reassured by new boss

In a meeting at CNBC headquarters Thursday afternoon, incoming boss Mark Lazarus presented a bullish…

2 days ago

Making business news accessible to a wider audience

Ritika Gupta, the BBC's North American business correspondent, was interviewed by Global Woman magazine about…

2 days ago

Rest of World hires Lo as China reporter

Rest of World has hired Kinling Lo as a China reporter. Lo was previously a…

2 days ago

Bloomberg rises to No. 7 biz news website

Bloomberg News saw strong unique visitor growth to its website in October, passing Fox Business…

2 days ago