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Another bidder
for BusinessWeek


ZelnickMedia and former WSJ publisher Crovitz team up

Sep 24, 2009

BusinessWeek still doesn't have a buyer. In fact, it may not even have all its bidders yet.

More than a week after the initial Sept. 15 deadline for bids passed, another suitor has emerged in the sale of the 80-year-old publication, owned by McGraw-Hill.

It's ZelnickMedia, which would partner with former Wall Street Journal publisher L. Gordon Crovitz on the bid, though nothing has been formalized.

All this is being reported by BusinessWeek, which has been among the best sources of information on the sale of itself.

Despite McGraw-Hill's claims that more than 90 parties have showed some interest in the publication, the bidders are now down to just a few.

Bloomberg, which got into the bidding late after weeks of speculation, and OpenGate, owner of TV Guide, have submitted bids already, according to reports.

Bloomberg is considered the frontrunner, but Zelnick's entry is intriguing. Crovitz obviously has an extensive financial journalism background, and Jim Friedlich, now a partner at Zelnick, is a former Dow Jones employee.

ZelnickMedia, headed by Strauss Zelnick, former CEO of BMG Entertainment, is a media investment firm with interests in video games, software, television and music.

McGraw-Hill has not said when a final decision will be made about the sale. Rumors of large layoffs and perhaps even the magazine's closure have dogged the company since it confirmed two months ago that the title was going on the block.






Louisa Ada Seltzer is a staff writer for Media Life.




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