Thursday, June 24, 2010

Newsweek Will Not be Sold to the Chinese

This is an excerpt from a much longer article in Fortune. To read the entire article, click here.

FORTUNE -- China is no longer content to merely be covered by American media. It now wants to own it.

China-based Southern Media Group confirmed last week that it partnered with Chengdu B-Ray Media for a bid to buy Newsweek magazine from its owner, the Washington Post Co. Perhaps not surprisingly, the offer was roundly rejected.

After losing nearly $30 million in print advertising revenues during the past two years and experiencing a 31% plummet in its first quarter revenue this year, the 77-year-old magazine was put on the auction block in early May. Washington Post CEO Donald Graham said Newsweek had no clear path to profitability.

Washington Post Co.'s (WPO, Fortune 500) reason for rejecting the Chinese media group's bid remains undisclosed. Since the deadline for Newsweek bids on June 2, no other serious suitors have announced they've been rejected. A Washington Post spokeswoman declined to comment.

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