New Sunday biz editor named at NY Times

Tim O’Brien, the New York Times reporter and author of the book on Donald Trump that led to him being sued by the real estate developer, has been named the Sunday business editor of the Times, according to a memo posted on the Romenesko web site.

O’Brien was apparently leaving the Times for an undisclosed job at another publication, but decided to stay when he received the counter-offer.

Business editor Larry Ingrassia writes, “I’m really excited about Tim’s new job, both because it means that we get to continue having him as a friend and a colleague, someone who loves The Times and all it is about, and because I know that he’ll do a terrific job raising the Sunday Business section to new heights.”

Among the topics and people he has written about for the paper are Wall Street, Russia, Manhattan’s art world, cybercrimes and identity theft, investing legend Warren Buffett, online newspapers, terrorism and terrorist financing, Trump, money laundering, and white-collar fraud.

Prior to returning to the Times in 2003, O’Brien was the senior feature writer at Talk, a monthly magazine founded by Tina Brown, the former editor of Vanity Fair and The New Yorker. Tim was with Talk from 2000 until it ceased publishing in 2002. Before joining Talk, O’Brien, 43, was a reporter with The Times and, prior to that, The Wall Street Journal.

O’Brien has a B.A. cum laude in literature from Georgetown University, an M.A. in U.S. History from Columbia University, an M.S. in Journalism from Columbia University, and an MBA from Columbia University.

O’Brien is the author of a biography of Donald Trump called “TrumpNation: The Art of Being the Donald,” which Warner Books published in October. His previous book, “Bad Bet: The Inside Story of the Glitz, Glamour, and Danger of America’s Gambling Industry,” was published in 1998.

Trump has sued O’Brien, claiming that he defamed him in the book by questioning his net worth. See more info here.