Business news is the area of journalism that covers all aspects of commercial activities, such as trading, investment and financial markets. Business reporting also encompasses the activities of businesses themselves and their impact on society. It’s a hugely popular genre, and many people read business news on a daily basis. Many newspaper, magazine and radio news websites include a dedicated business section, and major online and cable television channels such as Bloomberg and CNBC have a focus on this type of reporting.
The term business is generally used to refer to an enterprise that exchanges goods or services for payment. The goal of any such enterprise is to make a profit from the transaction. If the profit is returned to the owners it is known as a for-profit business, while not-for-profits invest profits into achieving stated goals or improving infrastructure, for example. Some businesses are privately owned, while others are publicly listed and traded on the stock market. Most businesses are run as limited liability companies, but some operate as sole proprietorships or partnerships and even governmental programs can be considered to be a type of business.
A person can be a business in their own right, offering goods and services that they provide on a freelance or contract basis. These individuals may offer their services to multiple clients at once, which can be a form of business as well. There are many different industries in which business can take place, including but not limited to technology, marketing, healthcare, finance and real estate. Some of the largest corporations in the world have their own business divisions, focusing on specific sectors of the economy.
This type of reporting has its origins in the early 1600s with the Fuggers’ newsletters, which detailed information about the availability and price of commodities. This type of reporting quickly gained popularity, and by the 1700s it had become a distinct genre of journalism. The first newspapers to install a business section were The New York Price Current and The New York Herald, which both included details about the stock market and other financial issues.
Kayla St. Germain runs growth marketing and sales enablement at Business News Daily, where she uses data to drive strategic initiatives for the company’s audience acquisition efforts. With more than eight years of experience across SaaS and technology, all-in-one agencies, education and healthcare, she has built scalable growth strategies for companies ranging from startups to global enterprises. She is passionate about her community, leading a neighborhood association online and using her spare time to teach high school students how to navigate the college application process. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Weber State University in Utah, where she was the copy editor for the student-run newspaper The Signpost. She lives in Waltham, Massachusetts.