Bloomberg Businessweek

Verified Timeline

Lore & Background

The magazine was first published weeks before the 1929 stock market crash, providing information and opinions on business trends. Its early sections included marketing, labor, finance, management, and Washington Outlook. The name was shortened to Business Week in 1934. By 1975, it carried more advertising pages annually than any other magazine in the United States. Under editor-in-chief Stephen B. Shepard (1984–2005), readership grew to more than six million in the late 1980s. The magazine began ranking U.S. business school MBA programs in 1988 and added undergraduate business program rankings in 2006. In 2009, Bloomberg L.P. bought the magazine for reportedly between $2 million to $5 million plus assumption of liabilities. The magazine became a monthly in June 2024.

Reader's Guide

Bloomberg Businessweek has been a significant force in business journalism for nearly a century. It pioneered coverage of how national politics affects business and adapted its readership from managers to a broader consumer audience in the 1970s. Its annual rankings of business schools became influential in higher education. After being acquired by Bloomberg L.P. in 2009, the magazine underwent a bold visual redesign and continued investigative reporting, such as the controversial 2018 article 'The Big Hack,' which alleged Chinese infiltration of U.S. tech companies—claims denied by Apple, Amazon, and U.S. intelligence agencies. The magazine's shift from weekly to biweekly in January 2024 and then to monthly in June 2024 reflects ongoing changes in print media. Its legacy includes multiple National Magazine Awards and a reputation for eclectic design and in-depth reporting.

Did You Know?

• The magazine debuted in September 1929, just weeks before the stock market crash.
• By 1975, it carried more advertising pages annually than any other magazine in the United States.
• Bloomberg L.P. bought the magazine in 2009 for reportedly between $2 million and $5 million plus assumption of liabilities.
• Creative director Tracy Ma worked on over 200 issues of the magazine between 2011 and 2016.
• The magazine became a monthly in June 2024, after switching to biweekly in January of the same year.

A Pre-Crash Debut and the Road to Advertising Dominance

Bloomberg Businessweek traces its roots to September 1929 in New York City, launching just weeks before the stock market crash that would reshape the global economy. In those early days, the publication—then called The Business Week—served as a resource for business managers, offering information and opinions on the commercial landscape. Its early sections covered marketing, labor, finance, management, and a Washington Outlook that made it one of the first outlets to examine how national political issues directly affected the business world. The name was shortened to Business Week in 1934. A pivotal strategic shift occurred in the 1970s, when the magazine broadened its audience beyond corporate executives to include general consumers. That expansion proved enormously successful: by 1975, the title was carrying more advertising pages annually than any other magazine in the United States, cementing its position as a dominant force in American print media.

Surviving the Recession and the Bloomberg Acquisition

The late-2000s recession dealt a severe blow to the magazine. By the start of 2009, advertising revenues had plummeted by one-third, and circulation had dropped to 936,000. McGraw-Hill, the then-owner, reportedly hired Evercore Partners to explore a sale, with reports suggesting the title might change hands for as little as one dollar to an investor willing to absorb its mounting liabilities. In late 2009, Bloomberg L.P. stepped in, acquiring the magazine for an estimated two to five million dollars plus the assumption of its debts—2019 reporting indicated McGraw-Hill received the higher figure. Under Bloomberg's ownership, the title was rebranded and restyled, yet financial pressures persisted. By 2014, the magazine was hemorrhaging roughly thirty million dollars per year. In 2016, losses of twenty to thirty million dollars prompted a sweeping restructuring: nearly thirty Bloomberg News journalists across the U.S., Europe, and Asia were let go, and a relaunched version of the magazine was announced for the following year.

A Rotating Cast of Editors and a Distinctive Visual Voice

The magazine's editorial and visual identity has been shaped by a succession of distinctive leaders. Stephen B. Shepard guided the publication as editor-in-chief from 1984 to 2005, during which readership swelled past six million in the late 1980s. He was succeeded by Stephen J. Adler of The Wall Street Journal. Under the Bloomberg era, creative directors Richard Turley, Rob Vargas (from 2014), and Tracy Ma (2011 through 2016, who worked on over two hundred issues) cultivated a bold, eclectic, playful, and memetic visual face that set the magazine apart from its competitors. Leadership churn continued: Josh Tyrangiel, formerly deputy managing editor at Time, replaced Adler; Ellen Pollock took the helm before stepping down in 2016; Washington Bureau Chief Megan Murphy served from November 2016 until January 2018; Joel Weber was then appointed by the editorial board. In January 2024, Brad Stone was named editor as the magazine switched to publishing biweekly, before becoming a monthly in June of that year.

The Big Hack: A Story That Sparked a Firestorm

In October 2018, the magazine published 'The Big Hack: How China Used a Tiny Chip to Infiltrate U.S. Companies,' an article by Jordan Robertson and Michael Riley that claimed China had hacked dozens of technology corporations, including Amazon and Apple, by placing an extra integrated circuit on a Supermicro server motherboard during manufacturing. The story drew immediate and forceful pushback. By 2 p.m. on the day of publication, Apple, Amazon, and Supermicro issued blanket denials, which Bloomberg reported. Within the week, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security stated it saw no reason to question those refutations, and both the National Security Agency and the United Kingdom's Government Communications Headquarters and National Cyber Security Centre also denied the article's claims. A Beijing-based media company, Pingwest, identified the chip in question as a balun, arguing its physical size made it incapable of storing commands or executing any form of attack, and suggested the magazine had underestimated the security standards employed by the affected companies. Despite the backlash, Bloomberg published a follow-up in 2021 in which it stood by its original allegations.

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