IBT Media Acquires Newsweek; Publication to Remain Digital-Only

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Newsweek, an 80-year-old publication that once boasted readership of three million, has become the Christmas fruitcake of publications--a hard-to-swallow confection no one wants that gets recycled from one unlucky recipient to another.

IBT Media, an eight-year-old digital-only company that publishes the International Business Times, has acquired Newsweek from IAC/Interactive for an undisclosed sum, according to press accounts. For readers keeping score, The Washington Post. Co. sold Newsweek to the late audio magnate Sidney Harman for $1 in 2010. Harman, in turn, partnered with IAC's Barry Diller to combine Newsweek with The Daily Beast in 2012, and a digital-only version of the news magazine has very quietly been produced since January 2013 (see "TUOL" post 5/29/13).

The International Business Times globally publishes 10 editions in several languages and claims to reach 7 million readers in the U.S. and 13 million people worldwide monthly. The Daily Beast will continue to produce Newsweek during a 60-day transition period.

In what English majors will recognize both as foreshadowing and irony, IBT, a company on the upswing, during a 2011 expansion moved into New York City offices previously occupied by Newsweek.

Anyone Wanna Buy a Debt-Laden, Subscriber-Deprived, Digital-Only News Journal?

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Maybe three times will be the charm for beleaguered IAC-owned Newsweek.

Once boasting a circulation of three million, Newsweek has changed hands twice in the past three years. Acquired in 2010 from The Washington Post Co. for $1 plus assumption of its considerable debt by the late audio magnate Sidney Harman, Newsweek merged with the Daily Beast in 2012 and its present majority owner, Barry Diller's IAC, is looking to unload the forlorn digital-only publication, Variety reports.

Online traffic reportedly has reportedly shrunk by one million unique visitors over the past four months and its subscription base has plunged from 1.5 million to 470,000, according to the Variety article. The magazine renamed its digital version Newsweek Global, even though, unlike in the U.S., print editions of the newsweekly are still available around the world pursuant to royalty arrangements.

Newsweek debuted a revamped Web site this month, and Variety reported the publication has plans to unveil a paywall that will charge Web site visitors $2.99 a month to subscribe. Diller has been quoted in the press recently as saying he regrets purchasing the 80-year-old publication.

Newsweek & The Daily Beast Merge

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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.

Newsweek Loses Another Marquee Name

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Coming on the heels of Editor Jon Meachem's announced departure following Sidney Harman's purchase of the magazine[see "TUOL" post 8/2/10] Editor-at-Large Evan Thomas is leaving Newsweek after 25 years.

Thomas, who claims his exit was planned before the 92-year-old audio equipment magnate Harman bought Newsweek, will teach journalism at Princeton (no doubt at a higher level of compensation than "TUOL"'s yours truly) and write books, beginning with a biography of President Dwight D. Eisenhower (the pages will be full, even if the subject is blank). Thomas came to Newsweek in 1986 after a decade of working at its principal rival, Time, and has served as Washington bureau chief and assistant managing editor. He also is regularly featured on radio and tv political chatfests.

The financially wobbly Newsweek has now lost Thomas & Meachem after earlier in the year watching star Michael Isikoff depart.  Harman may staff the magazine with his gin rummy buddies.

Wash Post Unloads Newsweek to Stereo Magnate for $1

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After 50 years at the helm, the Washington Post Co. has jettisoned Newsweek, unloading the money-losing newsweekly magazine to 92-year-old audio equipment magnate Sidney Harman, according to reports in Ad Age, Bloomberg News, and The New York Times.

The Post, which has been courting and rejecting suitors for the magazine that may lose up to $70 million this year [see "TUOL" post 6/3/10], reportedly sold Newsweek to Harman for $1. The purchase price may not seem like a lot of money--though the year Harman was born, $1 could buy a gallon of sweet pickles or a dozen bars of glycerine soap--but Harman also is assuming the magazine's liability and purportedly has agreed to retain 250 of Newsweek's approximately 325 employees. 

The magazine lost roughly $30 million last year and has seen its ad pages decline by nearly 10 percent over the first half of 2010. Harman, whose fortune was made from an FM radio sales business he launched during the 1950s, is married to Calif. Congresswoman Jane Harman.

Jon Meachem, who was unsuccessful in forming a consortium to purchase the magazine, is expected to step down as Newsweek's editor as Harman assumes ownership. It remains to be seen what, if any,
long-range plans Harman has for Newsweek, especially because, at age 92,  he's probably even reluctant to purchase green bananas.