Bloomberg Business News was conceived as a way of expanding the services offered through the terminal.
According to Matthew Winkler, then a writer for the
Wall Street Journal,
Michael Bloomberg telephoned him in
November 1989 and asked, "What would it take to get into the news business?"
Knowing that
Bloomberg had no experience in journalism, Winkler presented him with a hypothetical ethical dilemma:
"You have just published a story that says the chairman --- and I mean chairman --- of your biggest customer has taken $5 million from the corporate till. He is with his secretary at a
Rio de Janeiro resort, and the secretary's spurned boyfriend calls to tip you off. You get an independent verification that the story is true. Then the phone rings. The customer's public-relations person says, '
Kill the story or we will return all the terminals we currently rent from you.'"
"
What would you do?" Winkler asked.
"Go with the story," Bloomberg replied. "Our lawyers will love the fees you generate."[6]
Winkler recalls this as his "deciding moment," the time at which he became willing to help Bloomberg build his news organization.[6]
The purpose of the service was to provide up-to-the-minute financial news communicated in a concise and intelligent way.[7] As a fledgling company in
1990, Bloomberg hoped that the news service would spread the company name, sell more Bloomberg Terminals and end Bloomberg's reliance on the
Dow Jones News Services, a valuable subscriber service for the
Terminal.[8]
The creation of Bloomberg Business News required Winkler to open a Bloomberg office in
Washington, D.C. in order to report about political effects on the business world. However, the
Standing Committee of Correspondents (
SCC) in
Washington required
Bloomberg News be formally accredited to act as a legitimate news source, a title that Bloomberg Business News only accomplished after agreeing to provide free Terminals to major newspapers in exchange for news space in the publications.[8] This accreditation led to an annual growth over 35% until
1995.[8] During this growth period Bloomberg News opened a small television station in
New York, purchased New York
Radio Station WNEW, launched fifteen-minute weekday business news programs for broadcast on
PBS and opened offices in
Hong Kong and
Frankfurt, Germany.[8] By 1995, Bloomberg News had 335 reporters in 56 locations.[9]
The initial goal of Bloomberg Business News to increase Terminal sales was adequately met by the mid-nineties and refocused the scope to their news service in order to rival the profitability of other media groups such as Reuters and Dow Jones. This led to the creation of Bloomberg's magazine, Bloomberg
Personal in 1995, which would be carried in the
Sunday edition of 18
U.S. papers.[9] Also in 1995, Bloomberg launched a
24-hour financial news service through Bloomberg
Information Television and began wiring its Terminals through DirectTV. This simultaneously occurred with the launch of a web site to provide audio feed of radio broadcasts.[8]
Bloomberg Business News was renamed Bloomberg News in
1997. By this time Bloomberg News content was carried in over 800 newspapers worldwide and was syndicated through
Bloomberg Television and 40 international affiliates.[9]
In 2009 Bloomberg News partnered with
The Washington Post to launch a global news service known as The Washington Post News
Service with Bloomberg News. Hosting content from both news sources, the service hopes to pair the political experience of The Washington Post with the global financial economic news of Bloomberg News.[10]
In
April 2014, Bloomberg News launched a new section, Bloomberg
Luxury, which focuses on luxury living. According to an internal memo obtained by
WWD,
Chris Rovzar, the former digital editor of
Vanity Fair, will help Bloomberg build its editorial vision for luxury.[11] The section's content provides information on topics including travel, wine news, dining, auto news, gadgets, and more.
Review of technology and high-end autos are published weekly. It also highlights content from Bloomberg's quarterly lifestyle and luxury magazine Pursuits.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloomberg_News
- published: 14 Jun 2015
- views: 93