Most editors of news organisations spend a lot of time worrying about their business models these days, so it is unusual to talk to one who has no concerns about his.
On June 14th, Matthew Winkler, editor-in-chief of Bloomberg News, will celebrate the 20th anniversary of the first story going out over its terminals. The story was about corporate bonds and was written by a journalist who is still employed at Bloomberg.
Bloomberg has a big presence at Davos, along with other large real-time news services such as the BBC and Thomson Reuters, and I met Mr Winkler, along with Peter Grauer, Bloomberg’s chairman, to discuss the lessons for other news organisations.
Mr Winkler, who has a fearsome reputation for being a stickler for accuracy and for shouting at Bloomberg journalists who get things wrong or do not live up to “the Bloomberg way”, was quiet and friendly during our conversation. Then again, I don’t report to him.
He has few worries about his business model because Bloomberg’s journalists provide a service that is bundled in with financial data and analytics and delivered over its 283,000 terminals at a montly subscription price of $1,590.
It has a new print outlet for its journalism in Bloomberg Business Week, the magazine it recently acquired. Mr Winkler estimates that about 50 per cent of the content in recent issues came from Bloomberg News’ newswire journalists and says it provides “a great theatre” for their work.
However, there are few signs that he is changing his approach to news, which is relentlessly precise and fact-driven, and aimed at providing clear, “actionable” information for subscribers.
“We are very careful and meticulous about distinguishing between reporting and opinion. We do not really do blogs, not because we are against them but we believe everything has to be edited, We are not fans of spontaneous expression. We will continue to be a fact-driven, reported news service. There are some news organistions that are increasingly asserted and we will remain reported.”
From early on, Blooomberg has aimed to provide real-time analysis of news events as well as the facts – what he calls “context and perspective on a real-time basis as things are unfolding.”
He has the advantage in having his news bundled with data and analytics, and of focussing on finance and business, but argues that general news organisations that have the same premium, thorough approach to real-time news can also charge subscriptions.
“Whether it is Haiti, or Katrina, people want to know instantly and in-depth what is happening. If they can consistently get that from you, I believe some people will pay – they want to be well-informed.”
Bloomberg has recovered from the drop in terminal subscriptions following the financial crisis – it is still down on its 287,000 peak in November 2008 but subscriptions are growing again.
Mr Grauer says that it added about 700 employees last year and will add more than that to its total of 11,000 this year. He says growth will be organic and it does not intend to bid for Interactive Data Corporation, the financial data group in which Pearson, the owner of the Financial Times, has a 61 per cent stake.
IDC has said it is conducting a strategic review that could lead to a sale, but Mr Grauer insists Bloomberg is not interested: “It is a space that we know very well and we think we are able to build much more efficiently than we think we could buy.”
