Bloomberg is the latest news organization to attempt to take a bite out of the WSJ readership with a redesigned website. Bloomberg.com has ditched its old black and amber for a more traditional black text on a white screen look, reports Business Insider.

With its makeover, Bloomberg aims to position itself as the only financial news destination online. Its website's new layout combines Bloomberg's financial data, breaking news, commentary, with aggregated economic news stories from other sources. Media Bistro observes that the new layout and the colors make Bloomberg look more geared to average, everyday readers than financiers. Maybe Media Bistro is referring to the new layout's reliance of a vast array of images, rather than simply text and graphs, on its front page.
The financial data and news company, which already is a profitable operation, aims to give its main competitors, the Wall Street Journal and the Financial Times, some stiff competition with a redesigned website.

Kevin Krim, head of Bloomberg.com, told Business Insider that its website needed "a new platform, a new palette, a new canvasto deliver a must-use site for news throughout the day, every week" in order to grow its global audience.

When it comes to business models, Krim also told Business Insider that they are committed to the free ad-supported model, but will target certain subscriber products.

Even though investing in news at a time where the industry in crisis may not seem like a step in the right direction, Krim told Business Insider that he believes "media is a good model" and that Bloomberg enjoys an advantageous position for it can exploit its reputation among financial circles to cover economic stories.

Last week, the New York Times also revamped its Business Section in an effort to rival its biggest competitor, The Wall Street Journal. These two newspapers are currently mired in what seems like an old-fashioned newspaper war where nothing, from offering 80% discounts on full-page ads to snatching high-end advertisers from the other, is off-limits.

Bloomberg's commitment to a free ad-supported model is remarkable at a time where most news organizations are getting enthusiastic about paywalls. But, Bloomberg is outside the norm. Firstly, it is a financial news outlet and these have been shown to do much better at charging than other media companies. Secondly, Bloomberg sells other highly-valued services in financial circles. While a free ad-supported model may work for them, odds are this would not work for typical newspapers.

Sources: Business Insider, Media Bistro