| |||||||||||
| |||||||||||
 Don't expect the line of bidders for BusinessWeek to be too long. Once considered the jewel of McGraw-Hill Publishing Co.'s (NYSE:MHP) offerings, the magazine has been dragged down by sluggish advertising revenues that may never return to the levels it once enjoyed. Some still say the publication will generate interested parties, especially if the going price is anything similar to the bargain-basement price -- $1 including the assumption of debt, according to FT.com -- that was once paid for TV Guide. That's no typo, one dollar! So who might be interested?PaidContent.org suggests that Time Warner Inc.'s (NYSE:TWX) America Online, Reuters Media and Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) may want to acquire the online component of BusinessWeek. AOL has been working to beef up its original content offerings, which currently include Daily Finance and BloggingStock, while Reuters Media has been looking to add to its online commentary repertoire. Meanwhile, Yahoo! has made rumblings that it too wants to add to its content but it will likely pass and focus on fixing its structural issues. BusinessWeek published a blog Monday hypothsized that Bloomberg LP; Morningstar Inc. (NASDAQ:MORN) founder Joe Mansueto, who also owns Fast Company and Inc.; and Pearson, publisher of the Financial Times and half-owner of The Economist, would be candidates to buy the magazine. At this point, it's anybody's guess who'll want to acquire BusinessWeek. One thing's for sure: It has to be someone who's willing to take a near-term loss for a possible future gain. And that's the problem; there are not many people willing to take that risk in this economic climate. - Gerald Magpily
CategoriesComments
From: Edgar Perez,
For The Deal readers interested, GoldenNetworking.com is hosting Distressed Investing Leaders Forum 2009 on July 29th at the World Financial Center, featuring Stephen Norris, co-founder of The Carlyle Group and currently Chairman of Gulf Cap Partners, as Keynote Speaker, on Restructuring A Distressed Company: What Does It Really Take?, and practitioners from prestigious companies such as Cedarview Capital Management LP, Jefferies & Company, Simon Development Group, Fortis Investments, Amherst Partners LLC and T5 Equity Partners, among others. More information: http://www.distressedinvestingleadersforum.com.
Posted on:
July 16, 2009 3:17 AM
Contributed content from Middle market video
Categories
Blog roll
Archives
| |||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
©Copyright 2009, The Deal, LLC. All rights reserved. Please send all technical questions, comments or concerns to the Webmaster.
In the right hands, and with a little bit of capital, the right guy could turn this around. This is an unbelievable opportunity. The brand alone is worth a $1M. If I was a qualified publisher (I’m not), I would round up some private equity backers and give this a spin.
http://www.beaconintegration.com/service.htm