Asiamoney changes model, publisher and editor depart

The planned cut in print production comes in response to declining print advertising revenue. As a result of the move, publisher Andrew Cover and editor Richard Morrow's roles were made redundant.

The Asiamoney brand will continue to exist but within the context of GlobalCapital, a platform the parent company established in March to gather its capital markets news services in one place.

Representatives from the parent, Euromoney Institutional Investor, which competes with Haymarket Media in the financial journalism space, did not specify the exact number of annual publications but said the next issue would be published in December. The company suggested that print publication beyond the quarterly model would depend on involvement from advertisers.

Editorially, Mark Baker, Asia managing editor of Capital Markets Group, will lead Asiamoney. A staff of 10 journalists, operating under the GlobalCapital umbrella, as well as freelance contributors will produce both the online and print content.

John Orchard, managing director of Capital Markets Group, said the company had no plans to discontinue the Asiamoney brand. Orchard said: “We’re responding to the market and should have done this sooner”.

Orchard added that he believed monthly print titles in the B2B space to be “fundamentally challenged”, but that Asiamoney as part of GlobalCapital continued to have a healthy subscription business. He said the functions of editor and publisher “could be absorbed by other staff” given the changed format. Asiamoney will continue to develop its polls and awards as a source of revenue, he said.

“We have lost senior members of staff but I suspect the resulting arrangement is much more sustainable than before and we believe other publications [operating in a similar space] are going to have to do the same—either recalibrate the balance between print and online, or wait until they get shut down,” he said.

Asiamoney has been in operation since 1989. The Far Eastern Economic Review was Asia's longest-running financial title until it ceased publication in 2009. Owned by Dow Jones, it moved from a weekly to a monthly model in 2004 due to financial challenges before closing after 63 years.