At Price of $1, Is BusinessWeek the New Value Meal?

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Is it really possible that BusinessWeek could be sold for $1? I’m not talking about the newsstand price. I’m talking about the whole franchise. Sources are telling the Financial Times that BW could actually go for a buck — the same price that TV Guide went for earlier this year. Let’s put this into context, shall we? At $1:

BusinessWeek would go for one cent more than the 99-cent items on a fast-food menu.
Is roughly one-third the cost of a Starbucks tall latte — their smallest size.
Is about 80 percent less than a single copy bought on the newsstand (this information based on this link, as I couldn’t find it on the magazine Web site).

You’re first reaction to this may be, “Whoa, this is crazy,” — but here’s why it’s not: without any clear sign of what the future holds for BW, or even the entire category of business magazines, it’s very hard to determine a value for this franchise, the clear laggard in its competitive set. While the economic climate has been devastating for BW’s main competitors, Fortune and Forbes, BW is faring the worst, by far. According to numbers from the Publishers Information Bureau, the title’s ad revenue was down by 39.8 percent in the first quarter, plummeting from $54 million to $34 million. Fortune was down by 26.3 percent, dropping from $50 million to $37.9 million; Forbes‘ ad revenue went down by 15 percent, from $61 million to $55.6 million. In other words, not only is BW losing a lot more revenue in terms of the raw numbers and the percentage drop compared to its competitors, but as the smallest of the three books already, it had the most to lose. And it’s losing it.

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Tags: BusinessWeek, Forbes, Sources, BW, Taxes, Financial Planning, Finance, Catharine P. Taylor

Catharine P. Taylor has been covering digital media and advertising for almost 15 years and is a frequent speaker at conferences about media and advertising. She posts daily to BNET Media, writes the weekly Social Media Insider column for Mediapost and also has her own advertising blog, Adverganza.com. Follow her on Twitter or subscribe to the BNET Media Twitter feed.

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1

hotweir

07/14/09 | Report as spam

RE: At Asking Price of $1, Is BusinessWeek the New Value Meal?

How about one cent more than a song downloaded on iPhone?
2

Cathy Taylor

07/14/09 | Report as spam

RE: At Asking Price of $1, Is BusinessWeek the New Value Meal?

that's a good one. should've thoughta that myself.
3

evcinnyc

07/14/09 | Report as spam

RE: At Asking Price of $1, Is BusinessWeek the New Value Meal?

The reporting really went down hill a couple years ago, but I knew they were in trouble when they actually called me about renewing my subscription -- I can't ever remember getting a phone call for a publisher to renew a subscription before.
4

Cathy Taylor

07/14/09 | Report as spam

RE: At Asking Price of $1, Is BusinessWeek the New Value Meal?

I haven't noticed a decline in reporting (OK, I have a friend or two there), but I have long faulted all of the business books for their gushy attitude toward anything to do with technology. This week's Fortune, with Marc Andressen on the cover, is yet another example. That said, I wonder if great reporting over the last few years would have been enough to pull BW into a better place. My guess is the market has too many players and something's gotta give.

Thanks for commenting.

Cathy