Merrill Lynch Sells Bloomberg Stake, Marks Further Change in Business Journalism

Merrill Lynch & Co. decided to sell back it's 20% stake in the financial services company Bloomberg for $4.5 billion. The securities giant is looking to raise capital by selling this valuable asset and stepping further away from of the business of business journalism.

Gawker Blog Valleywag discussed what this might mean for the future of professional journalists.

It spelled vigorous pushes for profits and productivity when News Corp. bought the Wall Street Journal's parent company Dow Jones less than a year ago for $5 billion. Many of the Journal's top (and highest paid) writers were laid off since the sale.

Expectations of productivity in the news business are here to stay. Prestige and quality are well enough — but only if they make a noticeable difference. Being read matters just as much as being right.

Merrill Lynch's pending sale of its stake in Bloomberg points to a future when the news is worth more, and those who write it, only as much as their last story.