A number of potential buyers are dropping out, leaving only a handful of suitors interested in buying flagging Newsweek from the Washington Post Co.
Former Daily News co-owner Fred Drasner, who is teaming with ex-Dow Jones Newswires head Paul Ingrassia and Fast Company co-founder Alan Webber, is seen as the game-day favorite.
Sidney Harmon, the retired 91-year-old founder of stereo and electronics giant Harmon Industries, is still in the hunt, according to a source with knowledge of the situation. TV Guide owner OpenGate Capital is also believed to be a potential bidder.
Bids are due at Allen & Co. at 5 p.m. today.
Among the suitors who dropped out after kicking the tires is Thane Ritchie, founder of Chicago-based hedge fund Ritchie Capital Management.
“He’s decided he is not going to participate in final bidding,” said a spokesman. Ritchie, who tried unsuccessfully to buy the Chicago Sun Times three years ago, had been looking at Newsweek as a personal investment, not an investment through his hedge fund.
Rumors were swirling that Philip Falcone, the head of Harbinger Capital, which had been amassing a position in The New York Times before cutting its stake earlier this year, had looked at Newsweek but decided on Monday not to go forward. A spokeswoman declined to comment.
Most strategic bidders are staying away. Newsweek lost more than $44 million over the past two years as it scrambled to reinvent itself, cut production costs and lower circulation, at the same time laying off huge chunks of its staff.
In the first quarter, the Washington Post said it had cut Newsweek’s losses to just over $3 million. Many advertisers are taking a wait-and-see approach as the sales process unfolds.
Through the June 7 issue, the magazine had a 3.4 percent decline in ad pages to 487.4, but the revenue decline is still in the double-digit range because the price of an ad page was reduced to correspond to the lowered circulation.