Businessweek hires Fortune’s Hugh Wiley to be magazine’s next publisher

BusinessWeek hires away Fortune’s publisher

NEW YORK — Bloomberg BusinessWeek said Wednesday it is hiring Hugh Wiley from Time Inc.’s Fortune magazine to be its next publisher.

He’s replacing Jessica Sibley, who is leaving to become publisher of The Week magazine, starting June 28.

Wiley, who has served as Fortune’s publisher since September 2007, arrives at BusinessWeek just as it comes through a major transition. Bloomberg LP bought the magazine from McGraw-Hill Cos. last year for about $5 million. It brought in another Time Inc. alumnus — Time magazine deputy managing editor Josh Tyrangiel — as editor and undertook an ambitious redesign to make the magazine’s focus more global and comprehensive.

Bloomberg cut some of BusinessWeek’s staff after the acquisition but has done some hiring for the magazine since, doubled the story count and added about 12 pages to each issue. The magazine reporters have been integrated into Bloomberg’s roughly 2,300-person newsgathering operation.

As publisher, Wiley’s job will be to pitch the beefed-up magazine to advertisers. Like nearly every magazine, BusinessWeek has been hurt by the recession and the shift of advertising dollars to the Web. It sold 19 percent fewer ad pages in the first quarter compared with a year earlier.

It is hoping to rebound by broadening the magazine’s audience and its base of advertisers. BusinessWeek President Paul Bascobert said he hired Wiley for his international contacts in particular.

“We’re on a mission to build the most influential business news franchise in the marketplace,” Bascobert said.