Posted on 11/13/2010 3:31:49 AM PST by abb
Barry Diller, who has spent the better part of a decade amassing a collection of Internet companies — a search engine here, a dating Web site there — has figured out how to help make the Internet work a little better for him. He is going into the magazine business.
Mr. Diller, whose IAC/InterActiveCorp owns the news and commentary site The Daily Beast, agreed this week to enter into a 50-50 venture that would pair it with Newsweek.
snip
Mr. Diller had more than a few good reasons to think twice about not being too territorial when it came to sharing control with Mr. Harman. Starting his own print version of The Daily Beast would be costly. Newsweek had a brand and all the infrastructure in place needed to go to print on Day 1.
Plus, by rolling Newsweek.com into The Daily Beast, they could hope to absorb some of the nearly five million unique visitors Newsweek clocks each month. The Daily Beast’s traffic growth has slowed lately, though it is up tenfold to more than two million a month since the site made its debut in October 2008, according to comScore.
Newsweek.com will cease to exist after the merger, and anyone who types the URL into their browser will be redirected to TheDailyBeast.com, Mr. Colvin said.
The merger is likely to come with other forms of consolidation. One of the main reasons the merger appealed to Mr. Diller and Mr. Harman was that combining the newsrooms and business sides would allow them to reduce staffing. When asked about possible job cuts on Friday, Ms. Brown said, “We’re going to have to look at the whole business model, the whole editorial model, and we’ll have to make our assessments.”
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
ping
So how does this work, Diller has to come up with .50 cents?
http://www.observer.com/2010/media/new-details-emerge-newsweek-beast-merger
New Details Emerge on Newsweek-Beast Merger
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704865704575610942185831902.html?mod=WSJ_hp_LEFTWhatsNewsCollection
Comcast to Reorganize, Streamline Executive Suite at NBC Universal
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1110/45066.html
Is Newsweek.com finished?
Harmon probably had to pay him to take it.
Further information on the Newsweek obituary.
do they still use linotype....because when they take that final crap, I sure could use some linotype to melt down for hard cast .44 magnum loads....
That would be fitting.
I hope they retain that fantabulous Conventional Wisdom page. I read that religiously to see how to dress every day. Megan McCain has to be their BFF.
This bit of printing trivia always fascinated me. It is kind of emblematic of how things used to be when us rabble didn’t own printing presses and the elites only controlled what we read.
Now we ALL have printing presses AND the means of distribution with the interweb thingy.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ETAOIN_SHRDLU
-——The new, “flatter” structure ———
There is no hierarchy. Everyone reports to Burke.
That seems a bit much to me
Many, many changes ahead for NBC. Lots of deadwood about to be trimmed to pay for this buyout.
Wasn't that the kid from lower Manhattan who disappeared about 30 years ago??? or was that Etan Patz?
I will stick with QWERTY
Snort. How nearly? And according to whom?
Note to advertisers: Trust but verify :)
http://www.kenauletta.com/barrydiller.html
Barry Diller was Rupert Murdoch’s FOX Chair. Good article for insight on this guy.
Fascinating that Diller is a computer geek! Auletta’s pretty good writing on media stuff. I’ve read a couple of his books.
If they want to make money, they might have to go conservative.
and is drastically more informative
And FR is interactive instead of one-way. I’m sure you can comment on the Daily Beast blog, but it’s not a conversation or debate.
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