Seattle P-I biz reporter leaving to do corporate research

Andrea James, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer business reporter who stayed on with its Web operations when it stopped publishing, is leaving for a job doing corporate research.

James writes on her blog, “If you’d told me last year –- nay, last quarter -– that I’d quit my journalism job to go work for an investment bank, I would have said, ‘Get out.’ (At least, that was the reaction of my former business editor Margaret when she heard the news, followed by, ‘Congratulations!’)

“But then again, a lot has happened in the past year that I wouldn’t have thought possible. First, I attended the inauguration of the first black president and sat near the front row. Then, Lady Fortune came out of nowhere,  took a big swig of liquid economy, picked up the baseball bat marked ‘career,’ and whacked most of my friends. My newspaper shut down. WaMu disappeared. Back to the point. . .

“I’m excited about this transition into a world to which I’m already connected. Often when a business stumps me with some change of direction or unique accounting charge, I turn to analyst experts for help. After about six years of covering the markets and business, now I get to learn what makes Wall Street analysts tick. I never could resist the allure of learning new things!”

Read more here.