A Dow Jones executive charged with boosting revenues across the company’s various print and online properties will become the first president of Bloomberg BusinessWeek.
Paul Bascobert, 45, will be responsible for finding new revenue opportunities for the magazine, as well as boosting circulation and reversing the losses that BusinessWeek has posted during the past several years. He begins his job on Jan. 4. (see below for a staff memo announcing Bascobert’s hiring from Bloomberg CEO Daniel Doctoroff and Bloomberg BusinessWeek Chairman Norman Pearlstine). Bloomberg’s acquisition of BusinessWeek closed on Dec. 1.
Despite the dire shape of the media industry, Bascobert says he is optimistic “because I see a real demand for a well-written global business product.” He says it is too early to articulate what his concrete plans will be for the magazine, but “I am encouraged by the forward thinking at Bloomberg.”
Bascobert did say that he believes a weekly magazine is a better complement to a business news website than a daily newspaper. Providing a daily news digest online and then a deeper, more analytical take on business weekly, he says, serves readers more fully.
At Dow Jones, where he served as chief marketing officer of its Consumer Media Group, Bascobert’s accomplishments included everything from lowering operating costs by streamlining distribution and outsourcing certain IT functions to helping launch local editions for The Wall Street Journal. He also managed to do the unthinkable in this depressed newspaper market: boost circulation revenues.
December 7, 2009
To: Bloomberg BusinessWeek Employees
From: Dan Doctoroff and Norm Pearlstine
Re: Paul Bascobert Named President, Bloomberg BusinessWeek
We are delighted to announce that Paul Bascobert will be joining Bloomberg BusinessWeek as President, effective January 4, 2010. As we continue to integrate the business with Bloomberg and focus on driving financial performance, market presence and audience development, Paul’s leadership and experience will guide Bloomberg BusinessWeek through its next phase of growth.
A top operations, sales, and marketing executive, Paul brings a track record of creating growth opportunities through deep customer knowledge and innovative programs for advertisers. Currently Chief Marketing Officer for Dow Jones & Company’s Consumer Media Group, Paul is responsible for increasing circulation and developing new revenue opportunities for The Wall Street Journal, Barron’s, WSJ.com, MarketWatch.com, and Barrons.com. In addition to re-engineering the Group's customer management infrastructure and launching innovative solutions for customers, he also is credited with helping the Journal become the newspaper with the most paid circulation in the U.S.
Prior to his current role, he was Senior Vice President, Operations for the Consumer Media Group at Dow Jones. In this capacity he oversaw IT, printing, fulfillment, manufacturing, distribution, and customer service, as well as financial and operational accountability for 17 U.S. printing plants. His prior experience includes working with companies such as The New York Times, DirecTV, and OnStar at marketing and consumer resource management firm Braun Consulting, and leading the media practice for Exchange Solutions Inc., an Internet marketing company. He began his career in manufacturing and production with General Motors and holds a BS degree in electrical engineering from Kettering University and an MBA in Finance & Marketing from The Wharton School.
Paul will report directly to Dan and the Advertising Sales, Circulation, Finance, and Marketing & Communications functions will report in to Paul. Editorial will continue to report to Norm who reports to Matt Winkler, Editor-in-Chief of Bloomberg News, on editorial matters.
Paul and Bloomberg BusinessWeek Editor Josh Tyrangiel will work closely with Bloomberg.com head Kevin Krim on the development of coordinated efforts that will result in the integration of Bloomberg BusinessWeek’s digital offerings into Bloomberg Multimedia.
No comments:
Post a Comment