November 12th, 2010
03:46 AM ET

Newsweek, The Daily Beast to merge

Print media's flight to the Internet has picked up speed.

Newsweek, the 77-year-old veteran of American newsstands, will merge with The Daily Beast to form a new entity called The Newsweek Daily Beast Company.

The Daily Beast's editor-in-chief Tina Brown announced the merger on the website Thursday night.

The new venture will be owned equally by Barry Diller, CEO of Daily Beast's parent company IAC, and Sidney Harman, the owner of Newsweek.

"The Daily Beast's animal high spirits will now be teamed with a legendary, weekly print magazine," Brown said of the union.

Rumors of an impending partnership between the titles had circulated for some time.

The deal "finally took place with a coffee-mug toast between all parties Tuesday evening, in a conference room atop Beast headquarters," Brown said.

Brown says she'll occupy "the editor-in-chief's chair" at both the Daily Beast and Newsweek.

The merger marks the latest corporate change of hands for the financially beleaguered magazine.

In August, stereo equipment billionaire Sidney Harman, 92, bought Newsweek from the Washington Post Company for the nominal price of $1.

Brown is hardly a stranger to the magazine world. She had previously captained The New Yorker and the short-lived Talk Magazine before launching the Daily Beast under the IAC umbrella in 2008.

Newsweek did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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Filed under: U.S.
soundoff (7 Responses)
  1. Reynardine Greencastle

    I am waiting for them to put out a current-events sheet for primary schoolchildren and call it "The Weekly Beaster."

    November 12, 2010 at 7:53 am | Report abuse |
  2. termlimits

    Now they're ONE big loser instead of 2 small losers!

    November 12, 2010 at 9:11 am | Report abuse |
  3. Upset tummy

    Well I like them both but I can't imagine them together sorta like chocolate & peanut butter and we all know how that turned out. People are so resistant to change. Loosen up people!!! For pete's sake. This might just work! How many of you are trying something new in ur personal life instead of griping?

    November 12, 2010 at 10:29 am | Report abuse |
  4. cesar

    AHEAD OF THE CURVE. @Upset Tummy. I'm trying something new. I am gonna try those new Wendy's french fries that came out in the CNN blog.

    November 12, 2010 at 3:48 pm | Report abuse |
  5. Lisa Merriam

    Talk about a classic missed opportunity give the merger a great brand name–especially when there are so many better options. Proves the truism that companies can merge, but brands do not: http://bit.ly/bSiTAB

    November 12, 2010 at 4:01 pm | Report abuse |
  6. tTaylor

    mmm french fries

    November 12, 2010 at 10:24 pm | Report abuse |
  7. 517blingdongding

    666 – The Number of Newseeek

    November 13, 2010 at 12:30 am | Report abuse |
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