Asiaweek was founded in 1975 by Michael O'Neill, a New Zealander, and T. J. S. George, an Indian, who had worked together at the Far Eastern Economic Review but had grown disenchanted with what they considered its ponderous style and perceived British stance.

Prizewinning Asian Fiction (edited and introduced by Leon Comber) was eventually published in book form in 1991 by Times Editions, Singapore, and Hong Kong University Press[5] In his foreword, Asiaweek Managing Editor Salmon Wayne Morrison wrote: "The competition cast a body of writing that had not been given publicity before.

[2] The New York Times columnist Thomas Crampton writes, "Asiaweek and the Far Eastern Economic Review were the only weekly magazines with a strong Asia focus through the 1980s.

In addition to several small regionally financed magazines, The Economist, Fortune, BusinessWeek and Forbes all began aggressive expansions into Asia.

"[9] According to Crampton, besides the "brutal competition for limited advertising revenue", another plausible reason for the shakeout was "the suffocating embrace of U.S.-based media giants with an American-centric perspective."

Writing in 2009, George was still nostalgic about the fresh and fearless style of the magazine during its heyday and is wary of American meddling in Asian affairs.

"[3] But Singapore-based Alejandro Reyes, long-time correspondent and contributing editor of Asiaweek, insisted that the magazine retained its strongly Asian voice independent of whatever the bosses in New York might have wanted.

[4] Reyes, who was educated in the United States, initially applauded the modern, business-oriented techniques and practices of AOL Time Warner.

Unlike Reyes, he was not optimistic that it would be replaced because most magazines in Asia depend on the patronage of political rulers, and most financiers have an axe to grind.