Given both the state of the U.S. economy and the time of the year, “reorganization” is a euphemism that we’re seeing more and more. BusinessWeek started things off with a slightly different term – “transformation” – but it is nonetheless laying off 12 employees.
This will all occur for the sake of increased integration between BusinessWeek’s online and print properties, according to a leaked memo from editor-in-chief Stephen Adler. “The new structure will enable us to collaborate more effectively, take greater advantage of everyone’s abilities, learn new skills, and serve our readers and Web users better,” he wrote, as reported by Chris Roush.
See how Web users got singled out? By most accounts, they’re becoming increasingly important. Roush touted increased circulation and newsstand sales, but also noted that page views hit a record of 64.7 million.
Furthermore, a tipster told Peter Kafka, “Ad pages way down for mag, .com up, but McGraw Hill share price in the toilet after the S&P ratings debacle.” And a quick glance at Google Finance can at least confirm the second part of that sentence – a six-month view of the stock is pretty dismal.
We’ll see how well the transformation can turn things around, then. “Congratulations to all on their new assignments,” concluded Adler. Our sympathies to those who lost their jobs, as well.
