By Lauren Indvik2013-05-13 18:02:01 UTC
Bloomberg LP continues to face backlash following last week's revelation that Bloomberg journalists were able to access information about subscriber activity on terminals, Bloomberg's $20,000-per-year financial news and data delivery system. Matthew Winkler, editor-in-chief of Bloomberg's 2,300-person global news operation, issued an apology on Bloomberg View Monday.
"Our reporters should not have access to any data considered proprietary," Winkler wrote. "I am sorry they did. The error is inexcusable."
On Thursday, the New York Post revealed that Goldman Sachs had recently confronted Bloomberg over journalists' access to its employees' terminal use. Journalists — thousands of them — were able to view subscribers' contact information and monitor login activity. According to the Post, a Bloomberg reporter once asked a Goldman exec whether a partner at the bank had departed because he hadn't logged into his Bloomberg terminal recently. Reporters were even able to access conversations between subscribers and Bloomberg's customer service department. Bloomberg reporters could not, however, view a subscriber's portfolio, see what trades had been made, nor which articles had been read.
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Bloomberg's terminal system is the core part of its business, making up 85% of $7.9 billion in revenue last year. Bloomberg's news division was originally set up in 1990 with just six individuals on staff, expanding to 146 bureaus around the globe in the two decades since. Winkler says reporters have long had access to basic client information, including contact details, so that they could ask clients what topics they wanted covered. It's clear in the decades since, however, that journalists' access to that information has been used for purposes beyond the original one.
Bloomberg has now instituted a policy that limits journalists' access to the same information that customers have. The company has also appointed a client data compliance officer who is "responsible for reviewing and, if necessary, enhancing protocols which among other things will continue to ensure that our news operations never have access to confidential customer data," Daniel L. Doctoroff, chief executive officer and president of Bloomberg LP, wrote in a statement on Bloomberg's corporate blog.
Bloomberg has certainly risked its clients' trust, and perhaps it will have to pay for that risk in subscriptions. As of last year, Bloomberg owns 30.82% of the $25.53 billion market for financial data and analysis, narrowly beating Reuters with its 29.48% share, according to Burton-Taylor International Consulting [PDF]. But with the new sanctions in place, perhaps Bloomberg won't have to pay very much after all.
Image courtesy of Flickr, Pratt SLA
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