LA Times market columnist leaving paper in November

Tom Petruno, the markets columnist for the Los Angeles Times, has signed up for the paper’s buyout offer but plans to stay on the business news staff until November at management’s request.

“The LAT has been wonderful to me,” he wrote in reply to an email to Kevin Roderick of LA Observed. “I just decided it was time to see what else I might want to do.”

Petruno’s column is aimed at the individual investor and covers a broad area of personal finance and investing topics. He writes on markets, corporate finance and the economy, and how it all ties in to individual investors’ portfolios.

He joined The Times in January 1990 from USA Today in Washington, D.C., where he directed the national newspaper’s markets coverage for five years. As deputy managing editor for markets in USA Today’s Money Section he also had overall responsibility for the section’s news content.

At the Times he directed the newspaper’s markets coverage from 1995 to 2001.

A Cleveland native, he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the Ohio State University in 1978.

UPDATE: In an e-mail to Talking Biz News, Petruno wrote, “I decided to leave the Times for personal reasons. I’ve had a great 21 years at the paper but wanted to see what else I might enjoy doing at this stage of life. The Times asked me to stay through November and I agreed. The paper has always been wonderful to me. I have nothing but great memories. And there is no more collegial group of people than the current Biz team. They are all a joy to work with. I have no set plans after my departure.“