Newsweek to be purchased by IBT Media

[August 05, 2013]  NEW YORK (AP) -- Newsweek is being sold for the second time in just a few years.

The owner of the International Business Times said it's buying what is now an online-only brand for an undisclosed sum from IAC/InterActiveCorp. The publication, which once had a fierce rivalry with Time magazine, ran its last print edition at the end of 2012.

Newsweek had been struggling for years when The Washington Post Co. sold it for $1 in 2010 to stereo equipment magnate Sidney Harman, who died the following year. Before he died, Harman placed Newsweek into a joint venture with IAC's The Daily Beast website, a move intended to help widen its online audience.

IBT Media said the purchase doesn't include The Daily Beast. It said the deal will close in the coming days, with IAC operating Newsweek during a transition period of up to 60 days.

The company said Newsweek will return to the www.newsweek.com site in the coming weeks.

IBT was founded in 2006 and owns online publications including Medical Daily, Latin Times and iDigitalTimes.

IAC/InterActiveCorp., based in New York, is a media and Internet company with brands including Ask.com, About.com and Match.com. In a Bloomberg TV interview earlier this year, Barry Diller, chairman of IAC, called the purchase of Newsweek a "mistake."

[Associated Press]

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