Two More Names Surface as Possible Newsweek Buyers
More rumors have emerged about potential buyers for Newsweek, which The Washington Post Co. put on the market a week ago today.
The New York Observer's John Koblin reports that Thomson Reuters and Allbritton Communications, parent company of Politico, are both interested in acquiring the magazine, though neither company would comment for his article.
Koblin's sources also suggested that Bloomberg, Reuters' main competitor and BusinessWeek's owner as of October 2009, is considering whether it should step up to the plate now that its rival news service is reportedly in the mix.
Indeed, as Koblin notes, Reuters' may very well see Newsweek as an opportunity to further compete with Bloomberg:
And what would Thomson Reuters want to do with a magazine like Newsweek? Perhaps the company is just kicking the tires, or maybe there's a plan at work that is more substantive. Last year, Newsweek cut its rate base from 3.1 million to 1.5 million, hoping to serve a far more elite audience. Maybe the people at Thomson Reuters feel like they can have their own version of The Economist.
Staying competitive with Bloomberg, which has a monthly and just added a weekly magazine to its holdings, could be another reason. Other names that have been floated include Rupert Murdoch and Carlos Slim, both of whom denied having any designs on the magazine.
