LA Times biz reporter leaving for sports

Jim Peltz, a business reporter at the Los Angeles Times for the past 18 years, is leaving that beat to cover motorsports for the paper, according to a memo posted on the LA Observed site.

Sports editor Bill Dwyre wrote, “Peltz, who covers a wide range of business and financial topics, will bring a unique financial expertise to the coverage of a motorsports industry that has taken an increasing share of the sports world’s consumer dollar in the last 10 years. The motorsports beat is one that demands the ability to understand and write about athletes and celebrities, as well as technical and financial elements, all things Peltz is nicely qualified to handle.

“Peltz, a 1976 graduate of UCLA in English, with a master’s degree in journalism from the University of Colorado in 1978, joined The Times in 1987 as a business writer in the Valley edition and moved to the main business staff in 1993. Prior to joining The Times, he spent eight years as a national business writer for the Associated Press in New York City.”

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