Barry Diller’s IAC/InterActiveCorp has taken control of Newsweek Daily Beast after the family of late stereo magnate Sidney Harman declined to pump any more cash into the money-losing joint venture.
Harman, pledging in September 2010 to spend up to $40 million to right the titles, emerged as the savior of embattled Newsweek when the Washington Post put it on the block. Four months later, however, he merged it with Tina Brown’s Daily Beast.
Brown, the former top editor of Talk magazine, The New Yorker and Vanity Fair, was the founding editor of the website. She took over as editor of the newsweekly as well.
The venture is believed to have lost about $30 million last year.
In the first quarter, the venture’s losses were cut to less than $6 million.
News that the Harman family trust was relinquishing majority control was first reported by Reuters.
The board, once evenly split between the Harman family and Diller, will now see Diller control 75 percent, sources said.