Nov 13, 2010, 17:34 GMT
New York - Newseek will merge with the Daily Beast website, the two publications announced Friday in one of the highest profile marriages to date of new and old media.
The deal comes just months after the Washington Post sold the 77 year old Newsweek for just one dollar to audio equipment billionaire Sidney Harman, who also assumed all the publication's debts. Circulation at Newsweek, which was once one of the dominant news publications in the world, has dropped to just 2.4 million, and the magazine lost 28 million dollars last year.
The Daily Beast is a two-year old news and opinion site owned by media mogul Barry Diller's IAC/Interactive Corp and headed by celebrity editor Tina Brown, who will also be the editor-in-chief of the Newsweek Daily Beast Co.
'I see Newsweek and the Beast as a marriage between Newsweek's journalistic depth and the vibrant versatility The Daily Beast has realized on the Web,' said Brown, 57, in a statement.
'The metabolism of The Daily Beast will help power the resurgence of Newsweek and Newsweek amplifies the range of talent and audience The Daily Beast can reach,' Brown said. 'The two entities together offer writers, photographers and marketers a powerful dual platform.'
The Daily Beast claims about 5 million monthly unique visitors and is by far eclipsed by rival The Huffington Post with 40 million visitors.
According to The Wall Street Journal, Newsweek had been on track to lose some 20 million dollars this year, with the Daily Beast's losses expected to be around 10 million dollars.
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