Wash. Post Puts Newsweek Up for Sale

WASHINGTON — Washington Post Co. says it has put Newsweek magazine up for sale. The company has owned it since 1961.

The Post has hired an investment banking firm to sell the magazine nearly half a century after acquiring it, Post media reporter Howard Kurtz wrote Wednesday morning.

“Post Co. chief executive Donald Graham delivered the news Wednesday morning in a conference call with Newsweek staffers, saying no buyers have yet been identified,” Kurtz wrote. “There was a stunned silence on the line as Graham revealed that Allen & Co., an investment banking firm, has been hired to broker the sale.”

The financial losses have been substantial at Newsweek, which has lagged in its competition with Time magazine. The magazine lunched a controversial redesign in an effort to position itself as a publication that focused more on opinion and analysis than the week's news. In that sense, it began to resemble liberal-slanted opinion magazines like The New Republic and The Nation.

Graham praised Newsweek Editor Jon Meacham during the call, said he hoped that no one would leave the magazine and expressed confidence that a buyer could be found.