Good News and Bad News at BusinessWeek

First the good news: BusinessWeek (MHP) is seeing an increase in newsstand sales. So reports SABEW's Talking Biz News.

 BW said in a statement yesterday that

...newsstand sales jumped 9.3 percent, to 37,397 copies, in the second half of 2007, as compared with the same period in 2006, according to the latest Audit Bureau of Circulations publisher’s statement. In addition, average circulation rose 1.3 percent to 933,566,

BW says its recent redesign is the reason for this. It's been criticized internally, and by people like me, but if it is working, that is what matters. As I pointed out the other day, I hear that BW has been losing money at a $20 million annual clip and may be sold in four years if that trend is not reversed.

 But then today the New York Post reports that some BW temporary writers are now assigned to a temp agency. They were told "they were being reassigned to a contract with Kelly Services."

No layoffs, but not good news at all, and a bit demeaning for the writers involved. It also would appear to be at variance with the good news I mentioned earlier.