Oct. 14 (Bloomberg) -- McGraw-Hill Cos., the textbook publisher and owner of the Standard & Poor’s credit-ratings unit, agreed to sell BusinessWeek to Bloomberg LP.

The acquisition will strengthen online, television and mobile products, Bloomberg Chairman Peter Grauer said yesterday in a statement. The purchase includes the print magazine and the BusinessWeek.com Web site. Terms of the transaction, scheduled to close Dec. 1, weren’t disclosed.

“We’re buying BusinessWeek to build it,” Bloomberg President Daniel Doctoroff said in an interview. “Our intention is to take a venerable brand and turn it into the best global business newsweekly.”

McGraw-Hill, based in New York, said in July it was exploring strategic options for the weekly as advertising sales and circulation slumped. BusinessWeek is part of McGraw-Hill’s information and media unit, the smallest of the company’s three divisions after financial services and education.

Norman Pearlstine, Bloomberg’s chief content officer, will be chairman of BusinessWeek. Bloomberg and BusinessWeek have complementary resources that can create a new model for the magazine, he said in the statement.

BusinessWeek’s advertising revenue fell 32 percent in the first nine months of 2009 to $112.6 million from $164.4 million a year earlier, according to Publishers Information Bureau data. That compares with a 20 percent decline industrywide.

Other Brands

McGraw-Hill said in a separate statement yesterday that the sale will enable it to focus on building its other brands. The company also owns Platts and J.D. Power and Associates.

Founded in 1929, BusinessWeek has more than 4.7 million readers weekly in 140 countries, according to its Web site.

Bloomberg LP, the New York-based news and financial information provider, is the parent of Bloomberg News.

“BusinessWeek, with its extraordinary context and perspective on the economy and companies, presents a giant opportunity for Bloomberg News to reach decision makers in the most important industries,” said Matthew Winkler, editor-in- chief of Bloomberg News.

McGraw-Hill declined 11 cents to $28.32 yesterday in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The shares have advanced 22 percent this year.

To contact the reporter on this story: Greg Bensinger in New York at gbensinger1@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: October 14, 2009 00:01 EDT