Business

BusinessWeek starts layoffs

Layoffs have begun at BusinessWeek, the weekly that is being sold by by McGraw-Hill to Bloomberg L.P., the media giant Mayor Mike Bloomberg founded.

Bloomberg is expected to whack up to 130 employees out of a total 400–a staggering 32-percent staff reduction. About half the cuts are expected to come on the 200-strong edit side, sources said.

A source said that editorial staffers are being called in one by one. “If there is a BusinessWeek representative to meet in the meeting, it means you’re being fired. If there is a Bloomberg person in the meeting, it means you are being offered a job.”

“It’s like a funeral in here,” said another insider.

Among those laid off is the On the Media columnist, Jon Fine, who has been on a sabbatical traveling with his wife, Mediabistro founder Laurel Touby.

James Leone, the founder of BusinessWeek’s online video group, is out, along with his five-person staff.

Longtime employee Steve Baker posted on his Numerati blog, “I just took the elevator to the 46th floor and got my termination from BusinessWeek. Bloomberg has not offered me a job and I’ll be leaving this one, after nearly 23 years, on December 1.”