Press release sent by Bloomberg to ValueWalk, please see updated article with editor’s comments below.
New York, NY — Bloomberg Media Group today announced Joe Weisenthal has been named managing editor of Bloomberg.com’s markets and finance coverage. Weisenthal will lead the editorial development of markets and finance coverage across Bloomberg’s digital brands, which sit at the core of the company’s new media strategy – first unveiled by Bloomberg Media CEO Justin B. Smith in March. Weisenthal also will host a daily markets show on Bloomberg Television. He will start on November 10th and be based out of Bloomberg LP’s global headquarters in New York City.
Joe Weisenthal, who joined Business Insider in 2008 as one of its first employees, is the outlet’s Executive Editor and helped build a large, international newsroom – now reaching 50 million unique visitors. He has been widely lauded for his around-the-clock commitment to covering Wall Street and the economy, serving as one of the leading journalistic authorities on the inner-workings of the financial industry.
“Joe Weisenthal’s dedication to breaking news and beating the competition is legendary,” said Smith. “Bringing a multi-talented, digital leader like Joe to Bloomberg is a statement about what we are building here: a portfolio of high metabolism digital brands that live across TV, web, mobile, print, radio and live events – and comprehensively serve the global business and finance audience.”
“I had no interest in leaving Business Insider, and I’m incredibly proud of what’s being built there,” said Joe Weisenthal. “But what’s going on at Bloomberg is truly exciting. I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to be part of what Justin Smith, Josh Tyrangiel, Josh Topolsky, and the rest of the team are creating.”
Joe Weisenthal will report to Joshua Topolsky, Editor – Bloomberg Digital, who is overseeing the development of all of Bloomberg’s new digital brands and to Claudia Milne, Head of U.S. Live TV. Prior to joining Business Insider, Joe Weisenthal was a correspondent for paidContent.org and an editor at Dealbreaker.com. Joe Weisenthalco-founded the markets blog TheStalwart.com and was previously a writer and analyst for TechDirt.com. He began his career as an analyst for Prentiss Smith & Co.
The first new brand launched in Bloomberg’s new media strategy – Bloomberg Politics – debuted on October 6th and leads political coverage across all Bloomberg platforms. The new website,BloombergPolitics.com, is a next-generation political news site, seamlessly combining up-to-the-minute news, original video, analysis, commentary, long-form features, polling, interactive graphics and live streams. Bloomberg Politics Managing Editors Mark Halperin and John Heilemann host a new half-hour television show, “With All Due Respect,” airing at 5:00 PM ET/PT on Bloomberg TV and streaming live on BloombergPolitics.com.
Joe Weisenthal is the most recent addition in a series of high-profile changes in Bloomberg’s consumer media operation, which began with naming Smith CEO of Bloomberg Media Group in July 2013. Since he started in September, Smith led a rapid review of Bloomberg’s entire consumer media operation and detailed a bold, aggressive new strategy. The strategy aims to build the leading, next generation media company for global business by concentrating on the development of a series of digitally-led, multi-platform new brands and broadening Bloomberg’s core audience beyond its traditional finance roots.
A steady stream of top talent has joined Bloomberg to help execute the new strategy, including:
- Former Atlantic Media executive Zazie Lucke joining as Head of Global Marketing in October;
- Paul Marcum, GE’s former Director of Global Digital Marketing and Programming, joining in December to become Head of Global Digital Video;
- Leading digital talent and former Gawker and Atlantic Wire editor Gabriel Snyder joining in March, helping to lead the creation and launch of the new digital brands;
- Chris Rovzar, former digital editor of Vanity Fair, joined in April to build Bloomberg’s digital editorial vision for luxury;
- In May, two of the nation’s preeminent political journalists, Mark Halperin and John Heilemann, announced they would lead Bloomberg Politics;
- Bloomberg’s overseas media operations were restructured to reflect the company’s major global media ambitions by appointing – for the first time – leadership with oversight over all media operations regions abroad. Former Guardian executive Adam Freeman joined as the first Managing Director of Bloomberg Media for Europe, the Middle East and Africaand Parry Ravindranathan was promoted to be the first Managing Director of Bloomberg Media for Asia-Pacific;
- In June, leading advertising executive Paul Caine, who previously directed revenue efforts at Time Inc., began work as Bloomberg Media’s Global Chief Revenue Officer;
- Renowned media executive Jacki Kelley was named Chief Operating Officer for Mediain June, serving as CEO Justin Smith’s deputy across the Media Group, and focused on driving global revenue growth, brand strength, and developing the company’s multi-platform media offerings;
- Keith Grossman, former Associate Publisher of Wired and Ars Technica, who created some of the most innovative ad products in the industry, joined as Publisher of Bloomberg Digital and digital products;
- And Co-founder of The Verge and former Vox Media Vice President Joshua Topolsky joined in August “bucking the trend of young, web-native journalists leaving established media brands for smaller, more nimble start-ups,” according to the New York Times. He serves as Editor – Bloomberg Digital and Chief Digital Content Officer and is overseeing the development of all of Bloomberg’s new digital brands.
Editor’s note: Bloomberg has nabbed a very talented journalist; Joe Weisenthal can add value to the company. However, it is worth noting that Bloomberg TV has been going on a hiring spree lately, adding high profile names like Mark Halperin and now Weisenthal in what has been described by Andrew Morse, who left Bloomberg in August 2013, as “an overdue strategic repositioning.” The network has been losing a reported $100 million a year and, despite launching in 1994, still refuses to be publicly rated by Nielsen, so we’ll see if these moves make a difference in their overall business story.
