◼ A big publishing story of 2010 was when stereo equipment magnate Sidney Harman bought financially troubled Newsweek Magazine for $1 in the hopes of revitalizing the venerable old publication into the "thought leader" it once was. Now, since Mr. Harman's death, his family seems poised to bail on the old man's publishing charity case along with the left-leaning Daily Beast website. - Warner Todd Huston/Breitbart
Now, the Harman family has announced that it is pulling back and has stopped investing in the Newsweek Daily Beast joint venture with Barry Diller's InterActiveCorp (IAC).
The Daily Beast, launched to great fanfare in 2008 by Barry Diller and Tina Brown, quickly built a readership on the Internet. But, as Reuters notes, "advertising sales never caught up with the buzz, and media reports have estimated losses at The Daily Beast at around $10 million annually."
...Insiders claim that the Harman family is also unhappy that Newsweek has not developed into a intellectual publication but has instead driven for sensationalism. The magazine has fallen from its one-time height of 4 million readers to somewhere around 1.5 million today.
Related: ◼ CNN President Jim Walton, who has been with the company for 30 years, has announced that he’s resigning. He will remain with the network until the end of the year. “CNN needs new thinking,” Walton wrote in a note to staff this morning. “I have interests to explore, I need to give myself time to do [them].” - MediaBistro
