IAC Seeking Buyer for Beleaguered Newsweek: Report

Newsweek
AP
Newsweek

IAC/InterActive is looking for potential buyers for Newsweek, the venerable magazine that stopped print publications in the United States last year in favor of an all digital format, the Hollywood trade paper Variety reported on Tuesday, citing sources who have been briefed on the matter.

IAC obtained a stake in the 80-year-old Newsweek in 2010, when it merged with the Daily Beast, and under an agreement with investor Sidney Harman, who had bought Newsweek from the Washington Post for $1 and assumption of liabilities.

Any sale of Newsweek, which re-launched this month as Newsweek.com, is expected to be a similar arrangement with the buyer assuming liabilities and paying little for the name, Variety reported. It is still sold in print editions in some markets overseas under royalty arrangements.

An IAC spokeswoman, reached by Reuters, declined to comment on the Variety report.

IAC Chairman Barry Diller in a recent interview with Bloomberg TV called the purchase of Newsweek a mistake.

Newsweek's 1.5 million subscribers in the quarter before it ended its print edition fell to 470,000 in the first quarter of this year, with estimates that it will continue to decline throughout the year, Variety reported, according to the sources who had been briefed.