BusinessWorld

ng business community, eventually making BusinessDay Southeast Asia’s first business daily. BusinessDay was considered a standard of fairness, credibility and integrity in the journalistic world. The principles behind the paper’s existence were closely guarded by its publisher/president and editor-in-chief Raul L. At least twice in its history, the paper was able to withstand forces both within and outside the company. First, the martial law years failed to stop its presses. Second, the concept of professional economic journalism refused to die even as a labor problem forced the company to close shop on June 5, 1987. The non-striking workers got together barely a month later to form BusinessWorld Publishing Corporation, ushering in the paper’s rebirth under a new name. This rebirth also saw the full computerization of its production process. Unlike its predecessor, BusinessWorld has had to compete from the very start with other business dailies and several other papers with expanded business sections. But the paper managed to position itself comfortably in the overcrowded industry. Today, the business paper comes out Mondays through Fridays (with a Saturday exclusive online edition) with a national circulation of 151,000 as of 2016. With the paper’s excellent news coverage and style of reporting, a readership survey conducted late last year by an independent research group revealed that subscribers pass their copies on to an average of five other persons. Its subscribers are trendsetters and decision-makers — leaders in business, industry and government, both here and of governments and corporations abroad that are keen on Philippine business updates. General broadsheets included, BusinessWorld ranks fourth in the industry in terms of advertising revenues. This, despite its six days a week frequency compared to the seven days of the other papers. BusinessWorld is now under the Philippine Star Printing Company, Inc (PhilStar) after the group acquired 76.63% shares from Hastings Holdings, Inc. in 2015. Despite change, BusinessWorld’s success over the years has constantly been anchored on a firm belief that a newspaper is a public trust.