Time relaunches online biz section

TALKING BIZ NEWS EXCLUSIVE

Cathy Sharick, the new managing editor of Time.com, sent out the following announcement to the staff on Wednesday:

Last year TIME.com successfully launched Moneyland, a vertical that makes sense of mortgages, credit cards and savings rates for consumers often bewildered by personal finance. And starting today, we bring that same unique blend of intelligence, insight and good humor to the world of big business and global markets with the launch of TIME Business. Under the direction of Moneyland founding editor Scott Medintz, the new business vertical will cover everything from jobs and the economy to the Fortune 500 companies impacting Wall Street, Main Street and beyond. It will also be a resource for news and trends from the worlds of small business and new ideas in the realms of management and corporate leadership. And the launch will include special coverage dedicated to the upcoming World Economic Forum in Davos.

As he did with Moneyland, Scott has done an amazing job getting Business up and running in a very short time. He has been ably assisted by TIME.com’s new business writer Sam Gustin, a veteran of Wired.com and AOL Daily Finance who will be a key contributor every day to the site. Our new business reporter/producer, Christopher Matthews, just started Friday and is already becoming a WordPress whiz. In addition to the core trio, Business will regularly feature the work of TIME.com business veterans, such as Stephen Gandel, Roya Wolverson, Michael Schuman, Bill Saporito and Curious Capitalist columnist Rana Foroohar, as well as an array of outside contributors and content partners.

As always, TIME.com’s newest vertical would not have been possible without the tireless work of our incredible production, design, and development teams. Verticals coordinating producer Katie Rooney and Program Manager Shanta Speller, Director of Product Tina Alexander, along with Production Manager Jessica Bautz and Senior Producer Christine Lim, made sure (yet again) that we actually met our deadline; Simon Fung and Davina Anthony provided the always stellar designs; WordPress developer Micah Ernst made certain the site actually worked as planned; and photo editor Alex Ho chose a wealth of visually compelling images to help our stories stand out. All along, Executive Editor Daniel Eisenberg and Assistant Managing Editor Susanna Schrobsdorff provided key guidance and editorial oversight.

TIME Business is just the latest launch in Time.com’s successful vertical strategy. The growing array of compelling subject specific mini-sites, including Ideas, Entertainment, Newsfeed and Lightbox, helped drive double digit traffic growth in 2011.

Thanks to everyone for their hard work on this launch.