The Business Sets A Date For Re-Launch
Loss-making Sunday newspaper the Business, which is owned by the Barclay brothers, will covert to a magazine from 12 October and change its publication day to a Thursday.
As previously reported on NewsLine, media tycoons Sir David and Sir Frederick had been considering changes to the paper after it had lost millions of pounds (see Barclay Brothers Could Re-Launch The Business). Market research that the paper had commissioned suggested that re-launching the failing title as a magazine was the best way to rescue it.
Staff at the Business will move into the Spectator’s new office in Westminster. As a magazine, the revamped title will focus heavily on London as a financial centre and aim to compete with Forbes, Fortune and BusinessWeek.
It is likely to run to 72 pages and be priced at £2.25, with publisher Press Holdings aiming for an initial circulation of 50,000, whilst the commercial and production operations for the Business and Spectator will be combined.
The Business and Spectator titles will form part of a new magazine subsidiary created by the Barclays, who own both publications through their Press Holdings company. The magazine division will expand and is said to be holding negotiations to purchase two other undisclosed titles, according to reports in the trade press.
The newspaper has struggled in recent years, running at a £3 million annual loss and with a paid-for circulation of 20,000 copies.
The Business was founded in 1996 as a Sunday alternative to the Financial Times, but ran into financial difficulties and faced closure until it was rescued by the Barclay brothers.
Over the years the paper struggled to make itself more profitable, signing a distribution deal with the Mail on Sunday, which pushed circulation up. The deal ended in April 2004 and the Business subsequently struck a similar deal with Newsquest.
The paper re-launched in January 2002 when it changed its name from the Sunday Business, axed 47 journalists and temporarily cut its cover price from £1 to 50p.