The Washington Post Company Agrees to Sell NEWSWEEK to Sidney Harman

[deminks]

Source: Newsweek

The Washington Post Company announced today that it has signed a contract to sell NEWSWEEK to Sidney Harman, a successful businessman who made his fortune in audio equipment and is a well-known philanthropist.

Harman, 91, the founder and chairman emeritus of Harman International, was one of several bidders for the magazine, according to sources familiar with the process, and the deal was not concluded until today, even as some of the interested parties upped their bids this morning. The bidders included businessman Fred Drasner, a former partner of Mort Zuckerman in running U.S. News & World Report and the New York Daily News; Marc Lasry’s Avenue Capital Group, a hedge fund with a stake in America Media Inc., the publisher of The National Enquirer and Star magazine; and several unnamed American and foreign companies. A source close to the deal said the magazine will be purchased by the Harman family and it will not have an association with Harman International.

The deal ends almost a half century of ownership by the Washington Post Company, which bought NEWSWEEK in 1961. The magazine was founded on Feb. 17, 1933.

“In seeking a buyer for NEWSWEEK, we wanted someone who feels as strongly as we do about the importance of quality journalism. We found that person in Sidney Harman,” said Donald E. Graham, chairman and chief executive officer of The Washington Post Company, in a press release issued by the company. “He has pledged not only to continue to produce a lively, compelling and first-rate news magazine, but also an equally dynamic Newsweek.com—and he intends to keep a majority of NEWSWEEK’s very talented staff.”

(snip)

Harman’s wife, Jane Harman, is a member of Congress representing California’s 36th Congressional district in Los Angeles’s South Bay area, since 1993. She is chair of the Homeland Security Subcommittee on Intelligence & Terrorism Risk Assessment, and is a member of the Energy and Commerce Committee, where she sits on the Health and Energy & Environment Subcommittees.

Read more: http://www.newsweek.com/2010/08/02/the-washington-post-company-agrees-to-sell-newsweek-to-sidney-harman.html

[Yeahyeah]

1. The importance of $quality$ "journalism".

Is Jane Harman running for president or something?

[Joe Bacon]

5. Newsweak hasn't done "quality journalism" in years.

I stopped reading that lying rag when Spikey Mikey took that nice big $400,000 check to help frame Bill Clinton. Newsweak is just another cog in the right wing bullshit machine.

[murielm99]

11. That's about the time I quit, too.

I subscribed to Newsweek for twenty-five years. No more.

[alp227]

12. Oh yeah, Michael Isikoff?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Isikoff

Wasn't that guy also behind the Koran in the toilet story in 2005?

[nyy1998]

2. 91 years old?!?! Looks like Jane will be taking over sooner then later.

[winstars]

3. She is my Rep unfortunately...

I voted for her opponent Marci Winograd a real progressive in the primary.. Wow, 91 years old; not exactly her BOY TOY!!!

[xxqqqzme]

4. Yowzer!

I saw her at a South County Labor Breakfast @ the end of June. Guess that nice looking, late 50ish gentleman w/ her wasn't her husband

[valerief]

6. To be renamed Blue Dogsweek. nt

[daleo]

7. The future is looking secure

With a 91 year old owner.

[Raggz]

8. US tycoon Sidney Harman buys Newsweek 'for a dollar'

Source: The Guardian (UK)

The struggling US current affairs magazine Newsweek has been rescued by 91-year-old audio equipment tycoon, Sidney Harman, who bought the title last night for a nominal amount reported to be just a single dollar.

Harman, who described Newsweek as "a national treasure", purchased the business from the Washington Post Company, which put it up for sale in May, after failing to stem a steady stream of heavy losses.

The buyout is likely to come as a relief to Newsweek's workforce of more than 300 who were facing the possibility of the 77-year-old periodical closing.

Harman's bid is understood to have been favoured by the Washington Post's publisher because the tycoon pledged to keep on most employees – although Newsweek's editor, Jon Meacham, is to leave.

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/aug/03/sidney-harman-buys-newsweek-magazine

---

Hey, I might have paid $2 ...

[Fearless]

9. One dollar?

:rofl:


Shout if you get it!

[BrklynLiberal]

13. ROTFLMAO!!!!

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ytsLOsJzgtQ/Sv2zJ2JiD-I/AAAAAAAAAT0/jaghsH6RyNs/s640/we+are+moving,+we+are+moving.jpg

[Fearless]

18. YES!!

:rofl:

[BrklynLiberal]

19. One of my top ten favorite and funniest movies ever...

[Fearless]

20. Agreed!

[Blue_Tires]

21. still very relevent today, too

[AngryOldDem]

16. From what I've heard, the Washington Post couldn't give it away,

It had been shopping Newsweek around for a while with no takers.

[EFerrari]

10. I wonder where Meacham will go. nt

[Recursion]

14. For $1, allegedly

Ouch

[AngryOldDem]

15. So how long does Newsweek have?

Given that it pretty much jumped the shark years ago?

[robcon]

17. At $1, he overpaid.

He'll just continue losses, IMO. Very few people want last week's news delivered to their houses.