Private equity helps their PR image

Dear enjoy,Here is the latest biz news as i was going through some wonderful site i found this out and i want you to be the among the first to read and know this information.TheDeal.com executive editor Yvette Kantrow writes that despite the bad public relations image that private equity has, it helped itself by making a big deal in an industry with an even-worse image.She wrote, “But who knew all it would take for the so-called asset-strippers to polish up their image would be for them to make a giant deal in an industry even more disliked and tone-deaf to public relations than their own? Witness the surprisingly positive (or at least not negative) media reaction to Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co.’s and Texas Pacific Group’s $45 billion buyout of TXU Corp. While the Texas legislature has looked askance at the giant buyout of the Texas-based utility and its possible impact on electricity rates, the state’s media has been upbeat, even jolly.“‘Electrifying: New greener, friendlier TXU may be coming your way,’ cooed a headline in the Waco Tribune-Herald that took celebration into the land of marketing. ‘The investors have a history of serving the public, experience they hope to tap as they prepare to take over TXU,’ the story informed.“Henry Kravis as public servant? Nothing against Henry, but that’s not a notion expressed by the media very often. Still, when compared to a utility that only a few days earlier was threatening rolling blackouts if its scheme for a bunch of coal-fired power plants wasn’t approved, a buyout guy, especially one that talks to environmentalists, looks pretty good.“The coverage hardly dug too deeply. An editorial in The Lufkin Daily News, provided by Cox News Service, was as sanguine as Waco: ‘Partnership’s agreement to buy TXU sounds like a win-win for all involved,’ blared its headline. The editorial board of The Dallas Morning News was also impressed: ‘Air of Victory: A pragmatic — and healthy — business plan’ was its take on the deal. Meanwhile, the Houston Chronicle picked up a piece from syndicated columnist Froma Harrop, who declared the TXU deal a winner because it paired Wall Street with the environmentalists.“There were a few naysayers. Harrop’s piece stuck in the craw of the Chronicle’s own business columnist, Loren Steffy, who noted on his blog ‘that the only green Wall Street understands is cash, and this deal is no different. If Harrop thinks the TXU buyout will ‘affect the 150 other coal-fired plants now on drawing boards across the country,’ as she contends, she’s mistaken.’ Steffy also criticized the deal in print. In his first column on the deal, he wrote, tapping into a metaphor worn smooth by a thousand hands: ‘The barbarians came to the gates bearing green in the form of dollars and environmental promises. But the promises are hollow, and the dollars aren’t theirs.’”Read more here.Posted by Chris Roush Comments (0) Forbes grows online without cannibalizing printMarch 9th, 2007 James Spanfeller, the CEO of Forbes.com, spoke in England about the success the business media organization has had with attracting web site visitors without hurting its print publication.Oliver Luft wrote, “He added that Forbes was prepared for a platform agnostic publishing world where the focus was on providing business news on a local basis.“He said Forbes had just launched a Polish version and further local language services with geographically specific content were planned.“He added that Forbes was investing heavily in creating original video. Currently it has two production studios in New York making up to 60 videos a week.“A third is being built on the west coast of the US and a fourth planned in Asia.”Read more here.Posted by Chris Roush Comments (0) Dow Jones working on personal finance site for younger audienceMarch 9th, 2007 The New York Post’s Keith Kelly is reporting that Wall Street Journal parent Dow Jones & Co. is developing with Barry Diller a personal finance web site operation that will be aimed at a younger audience.Kelly wrote, “The Wall Street Journal’s David Kansas, who has been editing the Money & Investing section - one of the main power jobs at the paper - is expected to leave that job to become the CEO and president of the new operation.“Insiders said the deal could be announced at any time. ‘It’s been imminent for weeks now,’ said one source, who said the hold up was just the ‘usual things that delay deals.’“Kansas is no stranger to the Web; his background includes being editor-in-chief of TheStreet.com.“At the outset, about 30 to 40 editorial people are expected to be hired by Kansas.“Nikhil Deogun, deputy editor of the Journal’s Washington D.C. bureau is expected to move to New York to take over Kansas’ spot. Deogun declined to comment. Monica Langley will fill Deogun’s job.”Read more here. Kansas is the current president of the Society of American Business Editors and Writers.This was confirmed in a press release issued by Dow Jones on Friday morning.Posted by Chris Roush Comments (0) Biz journalists among Pulitzer finalistsMarch 8th, 2007 Business journalists are finalists in three Pulitzer Prize categories, according to a list published on the Editor & Publisher site by Joe Strupp.The Wall Street Journal’s series on the backdating of stock options is a finalist in the category of Public Service, while New York Times business columnist Joe Nocera is a finalist in the Commentary category.In addition, the Baltimore Sun’s biz section series “On Shaky Ground” about abuses in Maryland’s peculiar ground-rent system is a finalist in the Local Reporting category.There might be others as well. I am not familiar enough with some of these entries to determine if they were written by business journalists.Read more here. The winners will be named April 16.The Journal series of articles on backdating stock options were also winners in the National Headliner Award competition, announced Wednesday. The reporters are Charles Forelle, James Bandler and Mark Maremont.Second place in the National Headliner business news competition was Greg Burns of the Chicago Tribune for “College Has Become Less Affordable”, while third place went to Jim Adams, R.G. Dunlop and Caroline Lynch Pieroni of The Courier-Journal in Louisville for “Selling a Dream, Buying a Nightmare.”Posted by Chris Roush Comments (0) Canadian TV biz station changing its nameMarch 8th, 2007 Report on Business Television, the Canadian equivalent of CNBC, is changing its name to the Business News Network, according to a story in the Toronto Globe and Mail.Keith McArthur wrote, “‘This name is perfect because it clearly identifies specifically and immediately to the viewers what it is. And it’s got a great acronym,’ said Robert Hurst, president of CTV News. The name change takes effect Monday.“Mr. Hurst said the station’s brand positioning and programming will not change, nor will its regular use of business journalists from The Globe and Mail.“The original name was chosen when the station launched in 1999 to leverage the brand of The Globe’s Report on Business section.“But its acronym — ROBTv — has occasionally caused confusion among viewers who sometimes call it ‘rob’ (rhymes with job) TV.”Read more here.Posted by Chris Roush Comments (0) Q&A with Deal Journal writerMarch 8th, 2007 Dana Cimilluca, who left Bloomberg News to work for the Wall Street Journal and start its Deal Journal blog, was interviewed by Dealbreaker.com’s Bess Levin about his new job.Here is an excerpt:The Journal’s a great publication but are you just planning on riding on daddy’s coattails? No, we don’t plan to ride daddy’s coattails; we actually plan on riding Dealbreaker’s, so please keep mentioning us in your posts.How did the reformatting of the Journal to a considerably slimmer width affect you, if at all? We think that by making the paper more readable and accessible, the redesign will draw more readers to all parts of the Dow Jones empire, including the (free) deals page (blogs.wsj.com/deals).Will you be reviewing former JP Morgan analyst Dana Vachon’s upcoming novel, Mergers and Acquisitions?Since I feel an affinity with all other male Danas, I certainly will read his book and in all likelihood write about it too.Do you feel pressure to compete with the Mergers and Acquisitions section of Dealbook? They do some nice stuff over there. If you and Andrew Ross Sorkin met in a dark alley on the Lower East Side, what would be the outcome? We might share a cab and let him expense it. Read more here.Posted by Chris Roush Comments (0) WSJ looking to break more news on web siteMarch 8th, 2007 Like most print newspapers struggling with how to deal with the changes in how readers get their news, the Wall Street Journal is examining how to break more stories on its web site, according to an item in Women’s Wear Daily by Stephanie Smith.Smith wrote, “Its next project is beefing up its Web site to be a source of breaking financial news to compete with cnnmoney.com and YahooFinance. To help plot how to grow its online operations, the paper has hired consultant Booz Allen Hamilton to determine which employees can work on the site and how many additional ones to hire.“The Journal plans to introduce more blogs, columnists and updated breaking news stories to online.wsj.com, though a definite timetable for when the enhancements would appear was not revealed.“Booz Allen’s assignment with the Journal started in mid-January and is scheduled to run through the end of March.”Read more here.Posted by Chris Roush Comments (0) Indiana student launches campaign to get Cramer on campusMarch 8th, 2007 An Indiana University student successfully launched a campaign to get “Mad Money” and host Jim Cramer to come to campus for a show, according to the Indianapolis Star.Daniel Lee wrote, “Kotzan came up with the idea of luring the show to IU in early 2006. Soon, he and other IU student fans of the show banded together to start their lobbying effort.“‘We knew it was going to take something special to capture their attention,’ Kotzan said, noting the show gets plenty of pitches from its rabid fans.“So the students launched a Web site, iumadmoney.com. They called in during the show’s phone-in segment.“They wrote, filmed and edited a 10-minute DVD that was sent to the show’s producers. The DVD includes footage of Cramer sending out a ‘Norman Dale Hoosiers Booyah’ to Kotzan.“It also includes IU cheerleaders, the marching band and a closing pitch by Dan Smith, dean of IU’s Kelley School of Business.“The DVD, noting that Cramer has been known to throw a chair, shows footage of former IU coach Bob Knight’s chair-hurling incident.“The video impressed Cramer and ‘Mad Money’ Executive Producer Regina Gilgan.”Read more here.Posted by Chris Roush Comments (0) Ad revenue down at WSJ in FebruaryMarch 8th, 2007 Advertising revenue at the Wall Street Journal fell by 10 percent in February, while ad revenue at sister paper Barron’s was up slightly, according to parent company Dow Jones on Thursday.The release stated, “Advertising revenue at The Wall Street Journal decreased 10.0% in February on a 6.6% decrease in advertising volume, due to declines in the technology, financial, general and classified advertising categories. Technology advertising volume decreased 12.2% as decreases in communications and personal computers advertising were partially offset by increases in software and office products advertising.“Financial advertising volume decreased 9.8% primarily due to a decrease in retail advertising partially offset by an increase in wholesale advertising. General advertising volume decreased 5.4% as decreases in auto, pharmaceutical, corporate, aviation and other general business advertising were partially offset by increases in travel, luxury goods and other consumer advertising. Classified advertising volume decreased 3.8% due to a decrease in real estate advertising partially offset by an increase in other classified advertising.“At Barron’s, total advertising revenue increased 0.5% in February on a 0.6% decrease in advertising pages due to an increase in financial advertising partially offset by decreases in general and technology advertising.“International advertising revenue increased 16.6% in February due to increases in general, financial and classified advertising partially offset by a decrease in technology advertising at The Wall Street Journal Asia and The Wall Street Journal Europe.”Read more here.Posted by Chris Roush Comments (0) Canada’s Financial Post starts regular podcastMarch 7th, 2007 The Financial Post has launched a daily podcast as a free mobile device download, providing a summary of the day’s business and financial news at the start of the day, according to a short item on the Mediacaster magazine web site.The story stated, “Financial Post will produce the daily podcasts in concert with Daisy Media, a U.K-based digital media company. Cisco Systems is the inaugural sponsor.“‘Financialpost.com provides all the business news and analysis people have come to expect from the Financial Post, Canada’s oldest and most-respected business news source,’ said Jonathan Harris, Executive Editor of the National Post. ‘These latest enhancements, including the Financial Post Daily Podcast, bring us to the next level, providing Canadians with reliable and in-depth financial tools and market data.’“The free Financial Post Daily Podcast offers a summary of current business news along with a look ahead at what will be making news in the business world, plus the opening market numbers from Europe and Asia, the Post describes. The podcast is available online every weekday morning by 5 a.m.”Read more here.Posted by Chris Roush Comments (0).

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