Newsweek & The Daily Beast Merge

Image by Esthr via Flickr
Beleaguered news magazine Newsweek, which 92-year-old audio magnate Sidney Harmon acquired for $1 in September [see "TUOL" post 8/2/10], has merged with The Daily Beast Web site to create The Newsweek Daily Beast Co. that will be co-owned by Harmon and Beast financier Barry Diller, chair of  IAC/Interactive Corp. Tina Brown will serve as editor-in-chief of both entities.


As initially reported by The New York Observer and confirmed in today's The New York Times, under the 50/50 merger, the editorial staffs of  The Beast and Newsweek will combine under the control of Brown, who, nine days shy of her 57th birthday,  re-enters the print magazine industry after a decade-long hiatus. The flamboyant Brown previously served as editor of The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, and the defunct Talk magazine.


The Beast will act as the digital operation of Newsweek, though for the time being, each entity will retain its name.  A wise decision, as neither NewsBeast nor The Daily Week  inspire confidence. It's a May/December wedding of a stodgy 77-year-old news magazine and an edgy 2-year-old Web site.