Posted on 05/05/2010 12:26:34 PM PDT by FormerACLUmember
The Washington Post Co. is putting Newsweek up for sale in hopes that another owner can figure out how to stem losses at the 77-year-old weekly magazine. The publishing industry has been struggling as businesses cut back on ad budgets during the recession. But Newsweek, along with Time magazine and U.S. News & World Report, faces a particular challenge finding a relevant niche in the age of up-to-the-second online news. Once handy digests of the week's events, they have been assailed by competitors on the Web that pump out a constant stream of news and commentary. Despite staff cuts, Newsweek has remained a drag on its parent company, which is also struggling with ad declines at its namesake newspaper. The Post Co. said Wednesday that it has retained the investment bank Allen & Co. to help find a buyer for the magazine. With advertising revenue falling across the industry, Newsweek has been piling up losses since 2007 and expects those losses to continue this year. It did not reveal specifics, but results from the first quarter are due out Friday. The Post Co.'s magazine division had an operating loss of $29.3 million in 2009, compared with a $16.1 million loss the year before. Newsweek sold about 26 percent fewer ad pages in 2009, according to the Publishers Information Bureau. That percentage decline was consistent with the industry average. The magazine has lost about a quarter of its staff to voluntary buyouts over the past two years, ending 2009 with 427 full-time employees. "Newsweek's staff has been remarkable in cutting expenses and putting out a great magazine," Post Co. Chairman Donald E. Graham said in an interview. "But we did not see a path to sustained profitability within the company."
(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...
Who would pay one penny for this dead tree propaganda rag? Newsweek long ago destroyed all its credibility.
It is too bad that they are still publishing the Washington Post. It will be a day of great joy when both Newsweek and its parent newspaper close their doors permanently.
Take Newsweek out behind the barn and finish it off.
}:-)4
think chrysler.
How much will they PAY for someone to take it?
Here’s a thought for saving it:
Turn it into a magazine that actually publishes the news on... oh I don’t know... maybe a weekly basis.
I got about $10.00, I’ll make ‘em an offer!
Fire all the writers and editors and start over by telling the truth and not carrying the Left’s water. That would be a start to turning things around.
Or, wait for a bailout. Newsweak is too big to fail, isn’t it?
It would be tempting to buy it and turn it into a highly successful and profitable conservative news outlet.
A conservative news weekly would do very well, I would think.
Hizonor Bloomy bought BusinessWeek, so why not Newspeak?
I hate to mention this even jokingly but some Obama toadie will probably decide Newspeak deserves TARP funds to keep it going.
It would be tempting to buy it and turn it into a highly successful and profitable conservative news outlet.
It would be fun to buy it and hire Ann Coulter as Editor-in-Chief.
Why not merge it with Salon?
Why in the world anyone buy a business that had no "path to sustained profitability"?
Good luck dumping that loser.
I got about $10.00
I go $15
Do I hear $20 ?
Sell it to NBC.They’ll do wonders for it! LOL
There. Fixed!
Put it on Craigslist
Did you check the debt and past due taxes?
The brand has been so discredited by the leftist slant among the public, it’s worthless at this point.
My hope is that HuffPo buys it, it takes HuffPo down with it. LOL
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