Paul Caine on Monday joined Bloomberg L.P. as global chief revenue officer, responsible for pumping advertising into the diverse but money-losing media operations.
Caine had most recently been CEO of WestwoodOne, but left in January, four months after selling the radio syndicator to Cumulus Media.
He spent 23 years at Time Inc. serving as publisher of People, Entertainment Weekly and Teen People before rising to executive vice president and chief revenue officer.
While Bloomberg L.P. — the company started by former Mayor Mike Bloomberg — is phenomenally profitable, it is primarily because of its lucrative terminal business. The more-conventional media operations in TV, radio, magazines and digital lose buckets of money.
Bloomberg TV is estimated to lose about $100 million a year and Bloomberg Businessweek loses an estimated $30 million.
Bloomberg Media CEO Justin Smith, recruited last year from Atlantic Media, has been trying to turn that around, pushing new digital initiatives.
Caine’ s job is to drive ad dollars into the company, competing in some quarters with old colleagues at Time Inc., which owns Fortune and Money.
“We’ll be competing with anyone who is talking and connecting with our customer,” said Caine. “I’ll be working on multi-platforms, taking great properties and growing them, primarily with our advertising partners. Our goal is grow the revenue.”
He left Time Inc. March 2013 when Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes could not guarantee that he would be in the running for the CEO job that eventually went to Joe Ripp. His departure sent shock waves through Time Inc. and Madison Avenue, where he was the company’s most visible face to the advertising industry.