I am not sure why employees thought otherwise, but BusinessWeek is pitching to its prospective buyers that it is planning to fire about 20 percent of staff this year, about 85 eliminations among 421 jobs, according to the pitch book, obtained by NYT. In the book, these layoffs have been decided/recommended since Q1 of this year, and includes the following:
—in editorial, 55 of 217 positions (they have 217 edit people?!).
—sales, 9 of 69.
—marketing, 6 of 26.
—technology, 8 of 33.
—circulation, just one of 19.
—“other” category, 6 of 57.
—total of 85 eliminations among 421 jobs - about 20 percent - leaving 336 BusinessWeek employees.

On the edit cuts: “BusinessWeek will establish a leaner, entrepreneurial staff without affecting the brand, positioning of the franchise or revenue outlook. The eliminations of editorial staff are primarily in editorial support operations (makeup and copy desk), but also include a reduction in the number of journalists to reflect the smaller folio size of the publication.” So about the surprise, anyone buying BW will be even more drastic cuts than these, that a certainty. So the employees better be prepared for this….

This follows news that BW sunk multi-millions into its social network, also documented in the pitch book.