BUSINESS WEEK

Bloomberg Business, known until January 2015 as Bloomberg Businessweek, is a weekly business magazine published by Bloomberg L.P. Founded in 1929, the magazine was created to provide information and interpretation about what was happening in the business world. It is currently headquartered in New York City.

Businessweek was first published in September 1929, only weeks before the stock market crash. The magazine provided information and opinions on what was happening in the business world at the time. Early sections of the magazine included marketing, labor, finance, management and Washington Outlook, which made Businessweek one of the first publications to cover national political issues that directly impacted the business world.

Businessweek was originally published to be a resource for business managers. However in the 1970s, the magazine shifted its strategy and added consumers outside of the business world. Since 1975, Businessweek has carried more annual advertising pages than any other magazine in the United States.

Stephen B. Shepard served as editor-in-chief from 1984 until 2005 when he was chosen to be the founding dean of the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism. Under Shepard, Businessweek’s readership grew to more than six million in the late 1980s. He was succeeded by Stephen J. Adler of The Wall Street Journal.

Businessweek suffered a decline during the late-2000s recession as advertising revenues fell one-third and the magazine’s circulation fell to 936,000. In July 2009, it was reported that McGraw-Hill was trying to sell Businessweek. Because of the magazine’s liabilities, it was suggested that it might change hands for the nominal price of $1 to an investor who was willing to incur losses.

In late 2009, Bloomberg L.P. bought the magazine—for a reported $2 million to $5 million plus assumption of liabilities—and renamed it Bloomberg Businessweek. Adler resigned as editor-in-chief and was replaced by Josh Tyrangiel, who had been deputy managing editor for Time magazine. In early 2010, the magazine title was renamed Bloomberg Businessweek (with a lowercase “w”) as part of a redesign.

As of early 2015, Businessweek’s website redirects to Bloomberg.com.

The magazine’s primary competitors in the national business magazine category are Forbes, published bi-weekly, and Fortune, published on a tri-weekly basis.

Since 1988, Businessweek has published annual rankings of United States business school MBA programs. In 2006, it also started publishing annual rankings of undergraduate business programs.

International editions of Businessweek were available on newsstands in Europe and Asia until 2005 when publication of regional editions was suspended to help increase foreign readership of customized European and Asian versions of Businessweek’s website.

In 2011, Bloomberg Businessweek continued the magazine’s international expansion and announced plans to introduce a Polish-language edition called Bloomberg Businessweek Polska, as well as a Chinese edition which was relaunched in November 2011.

Bloomberg Businessweek launched an iPad version of the magazine using Apple’s subscription billing service in 2011. The iPad edition was the first to use this subscription method, which allows one to subscribe via an iTunes account. There are over 100,000 subscribers to the iPad edition of Businessweek.