It looks like it is a lot better to work for Bloomberg the media mogul than Bloomberg, the mayor.
Bloomberg L.P., the media company founded by New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg, told staffers on Jan. 9 that it was shutting down Bloomberg Personal Finance magazine, effective with the February issue now on newsstands.
None of the 40 staffers who worked on the magazine will be laid off, said a spokeswoman for Bloomberg LP, which is 72 percent owned by the billionaire mayor.
Bloomberg the mayor is looking to trim the city’s multi-billion budget deficit and may have to lay off police and firefighters to make ends meet.
Not so his media company, which he is keeping at arm’s length while serving as mayor. “There has never been a layoff in the 22-year history of the company,” said Bloomberg LP spokeswoman Chris Taylor.
The company now employs about 8,200 including about 1,500 journalists in TV, radio, print and the Bloomberg News services that supply financial information to the investment community. “Journalists can always find work here,” said Taylor.
Bloomberg Personal Finance editor Steve Gittelson did not return calls seeking comment. Taylor said he may be reassigned to two other free magazines that the company still publishes.
The decision to shut the foundering six-year-old magazine comes only two months after Time Inc. said it was shutting down rival Mutual Funds magazine in what has been a particularly brutal category.
Bloomberg Personal Finance was seen as the No. 6 or 7 title in the market with losses in a six-year run that were estimated to be close to $50 million. The magazine’s circulation for the first six months of 2002 was 410,303, up 21 percent from the previous year, but newsstand sales dropped 13.7 percent.