BusinessWeek Said to Be Up for Sale by McGraw-Hill

BusinessWeek, the McGraw-Hill Cos. magazine that lost 30 percent of its advertising revenue in the second quarter, is up for sale, according to a person close to the situation.

The recession and competition from the Internet have cut into ad sales at BusinessWeek and competitors. Condé Nast said in April that it was closing its two-year-old Portfolio business magazine after it failed to meet revenue forecasts.

U.S. consumer magazines have gotten thinner with the plunge in demand from advertisers. Industrywide ad pages dropped 30 percent in the second quarter with financial, insurance and real estate marketers buying 51 percent fewer pages, according to PIB. Automotive ad pages fell 49 percent, PIB said.

BusinessWeek’s ad pages declined 34 percent in the three months through June, while competitor Fortune posted a 45 percent drop. Forbes had a 40 percent decline, PIB data show.

In the first quarter, total U.S. advertising spending fell 12 percent, led by tumbling demand in newspapers and magazines, after automakers and car dealerships slashed marketing budgets, Nielsen Co. said in June.

BusinessWeek, run by Editor-in-Chief Stephen Adler, was overhauled in 2007 and added stories on new products and personal finance in an effort to attract more readers and advertisers.

Posted by Jayakumar from PDC lab