McGraw-Hill sells BusinessWeek to Bloomberg

Bloomberg LP, the financial news and data provider founded by New York mayor Mike Bloomberg, said yesterday that has won the bid for McGraw-Hill Companies' loss-making, 80-year-old BusinessWeek magazine and its web edition for an undisclosed sum.

Quoting knowledgeable sources, a BusinesWeek report said, "Terms of the offer will not be disclosed by Bloomberg and BusinessWeek parent McGraw-Hill Cos. But Bloomberg's cash offer is in the $2 million to $5 million range and that it has agreed to assume liabilities, including potential severance payments" , which were listed at $31.9 million as of April.

The magazine will continue to be a weekly print publication, rechristened Bloomberg BusinessWeek, Bloomber president Daniel L Doctoroff said.

However, it has not yet taken any decisions on job cuts from its staff of over 400 people. A decision on this will be taken by the end of the year, when the deal closes, said a BusinessWeek executive.

Steve Adler, BusinessWeek's editor-in-chief told the staff shortly after the deal was announced that part of the deal guaranteed that McGraw-Hill benefits would be extended to employees for one year after the deal closes.

About a year ago, McGraw-Hill looking to hive off BusinessWeek on the quiet had approached Bloomberg, but the deal fizzled out at that time as it differed on the valuation of BusinessWeek and also due to the company's inherent convention of developing products in-house (See: Bloomberg back in race to acquire BusinessWeek: report).