By Staci D. Kramer
The Washington Post Co. (NYSE: WPO) has come to the end of the road with struggling Newsweek. The company just announced that it has hired Allen & Co. to explore the possible sale of the newsweekly. Chairman and CEO Don Graham: “The losses at Newsweek in 2007-2009 are a matter of record. Despite heroic efforts on the part of Newsweek’s management and staff, we expect it to still lose money in 2010. We are exploring all options to fix that problem. Newsweek is a lively, important magazine and website, and in the current climate, it might be a better fit elsewhere.”
Newsweek‘s future—or the possible lack of one—has been a subject of speculation for years. The magazine was founded in 1933 and acquired by WaPoCo in 1961, helping create the company now dominated by its Kaplan education services, not news. While others were beginning to pick up steam from an recovery, Newsweek’s ad revenues plummeted 30 percent in Q4; the magazine’s total revenue was down 27 percent to $184.2 million. That was despite a stern-to-stem makeover and complete refocus.
More to come.
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