Brad Stone, the Bloomberg Businessweek senior writer and author of “The Everything Store,” has been tapped to lead Bloomberg’s technology coverage, Bloomberg Editor-in-Chief John Micklethwait announced in a memo to staffers Tuesday morning.
In his new role, Stone will oversee Bloomberg’s tech operation as it expands globally to cover stories beyond the Bay Area. Bloomberg will hire additional journalists and create a venture capital team based in San Francisco, according to Micklethwait’s memo.
We will continue to report on the biggest tech companies and their sometimes world-changing innovations, but I expect our coverage to evolve as well. There are roughly 55 million square miles outside of Silicon Valley, and we must do better at finding stories in Tel Aviv, Odessa, Seoul and countless other places where tech is thriving.
Micklethwait’s expansion of Bloomberg’s tech coverage is part of a broader remaking of the newsroom that has been underway since the former Economist editor succeeded longtime news chief Matthew Winkler earlier this year. Earlier this month, the company laid off roughly 80 journalists worldwide in a move Micklethwait characterized as a painful necessity designed to hone Bloomberg’s editorial resources. About a dozen of those layoffs hit the company’s Washington bureau, which reportedly had a strained relationship with Bloomberg’s New York headquarters.
Stone’s promotion triggered a cascade of appointments within Bloomberg. He will be joined on the tech beat by Tom Giles, Bloomberg’s managing editor for global business in the Americas, who becomes executive editor for tech. Giles will be replaced by Caroline Gage, currently managing editor for global corporate finance. Shannon Harrington, a team leader at Bloomberg, becomes managing editor for global corporate finance.
In a statement, Stone said he feels lucky to lead coverage of “one of the most important stories of our age.”
“I feel extremely fortunate to help grow an already stellar global tech reporting team devoted to covering one of the most important stories of our age — the way technology is changing business, economies, and people’s lives around the world,” Stone said.
Micklethwait’s reorganization of Bloomberg is one of several ongoing narratives shaping the financial news colossus. Last year, after serving three terms as mayor of New York City, Michael Bloomberg returned to run the company he founded. His arrival has been accompanied by several big changes for the sprawling company, including the appointment of a new top editor and the departure of digital chief Joshua Topolsky. Meanwhile, the company’s lucrative financial terminals face increased competition from competitors.
Despite the competition, the company is making investments in its news operation. Currently under construction in London is a new European headquarters, a 500,000-square foot building situated in the world’s financial capital.
Here’s Micklethwait’s memo:
To All in Editorial and Research
As I have said many times, our coverage should focus on six subjects: business, finance, markets, power, economics, and technology. Last month, we put our government and economics coverage under one roof, separating it from business, finance and markets. Now, we’ll do the same for technology.
Brad Stone, currently a senior technology writer for Bloomberg Businessweek and previously a reporter for the New York Times and Newsweek, will lead the new global group from San Francisco, reporting to me, Josh and Reto. His responsibilities will extend across all of our platforms. As well as directing our coverage on the terminal, Brad will help Jed Sandberg with tech coverage on the web and Al Mayers with TV and radio. Tom Giles, currently the managing editor for global business in the Americas, will be executive editor for tech and Brad’s deputy.
We will continue to report on the biggest tech companies and their sometimes world-changing innovations, but I expect our coverage to evolve as well. There are roughly 55 million square miles outside of Silicon Valley, and we must do better at finding stories in Tel Aviv, Odessa, Seoul and countless other places where tech is thriving. We will be doing some hiring, especially in Europe and Asia, and create a Venture Capital team in San Francisco, a move that’s long overdue. Many of our current technology writers and editors will move to Brad’s group, which will continue to work closely with Jackie Simmons’s Global Business reporters, and in many places, share responsibility for coverage. The telecoms and media/entertainment beats will stay with Global Business.
As Tom transfers into his new role (and eventually returns to San Francisco), Caroline Gage will take over as Managing Editor for Global Business in the Americas, reporting to Jackie. Shannon Harrington will succeed Caroline as Managing Editor for global corporate finance, reporting to Dan Hauck.
This is the beginning of an exciting expansion in technology and business, with the promise of intriguing new products on both the terminal and across our media platforms. We will move quickly to fill the open roles. At the risk of repeating myself: there is a lot to do.
John
