The pain from BusinessWeek

Marketwatch.com media columnist Jon Friedman writes Tuesday about the pain being endured at McGraw-Hill from its ownership of struggling BusinessWeek.

Friedman writes, “Sure, the McGraw-Hill weekly financial-news magazine and Web site have a strong reputation. But McGraw-Hill put them on the block a few weeks ago, in a sign that the profit-fixated company may eventually want to stick to surer bets, such as its Standard & Poor’s entity.

“In good times, S&P essentially prints money, and McGraw-Hill’s textbook operation is an integral part of the business. Meanwhile BusinessWeek, like most major magazines, has been blindsided by the depth of the publishing industry’s prolonged advertising slump.

“McGraw-Hill has several options, none of which will bring smiles to the faces of worried BusinessWeek staffers. Indeed, it can try hard to find a buyer and unload its magazine foundation. Or McGraw-Hill can be adventurous (this is not a company well known for being daring) and make BusinessWeek an wholly online product. Worst of all, McGraw-Hill can ultimately do what Condé Nast did with Portfolio: kill it.”

Read more here.