Suitors Line Up to Buy Fading Newsweek

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Bloomberg News and The New York Times today provided the scorecard of potential buyers who submitted bids before the deadline imposed by The Washington Post, which is desperate to unload financially troubled Newsweek magazine.

Among the purported bidders is the Los-Angeles based private equity fund OpenGate Capital LLC, which purchased TV Guide for $1 in 2008, and hedge fund manager Thane Ritchie of Richie Capital Management LLC, who stumbled in his bid to acquire the Sun Times Media Group in 2009. Also in the running is Newsmax Media, which fronts a conservative publication and Website. The New York Times reports that 91-year-old Harmon Kardor founder Sidney Harmon also was readying a bid. Newsweek managing editor Jon Meachem, who scoured the countryside for investors to help him submit a bid, was quiet as the Post deadline lapsed yesterday.

Newsweek has bled $44 million since 2007 (see "TUOL" post 5/7/10). Last year, advertising revenue for the newsweekly sank 39 percent to $70.3 million from $115.5 million in 2008.