• by Erik Sass , June 3, 2010

More Potential 'Newsweek' Buyers

The Washington Post Co.'s auction of Newsweek seemed to be heating up as the deadline for tendering offers approached, with more potential buyers coming forward this week.

The new round of potential buyers expressing interest includes Newsmax Media -- which publishes the magazine of the same name, a Newsweek-style conservative magazine -- as well as OpenGate Capital, a private equity firm, and Thane Ritchie, founder of Ritchie Capital Management, per Folio:.

Although Newsmax is known for a deliberately conservative slant, its management said it wouldn't interfere with Newsweek's editorial policy, despite its more center-left inclinations, according to reports.

OpenGate is also a plausible contender, given its recent acquisition of TV Guide for the now-legendary sum of $1 (plus assuming a large amount of debt). The company is not afraid to take on financially troubled print publications and try to turn them around.

Last week, the magazine's Web site unveiled a new design aimed to help visitors "quickly make sense of the key events happening throughout the world," says editor Mark Miller. The Web site now includes four main components on the Newsweek.com home page: the site lead (a current big story, updated several times over the course of a day), a "Newsweek Now" content stream resembling a blog, a new feature called "The Spectrum," which aggregates online commentary from across the Web, and simple navigational tools.

The owners of distressed media properties usually try to put a positive spin on their decision to sell, but company chairman Donald E. Graham minced no words about the extent of the mag's woes. "The losses at Newsweek in 2007-2009 are a matter of record," he said. "Despite heroic efforts on the part of Newsweek's management and staff, we expect it to still lose money in 2010."

The magazine's ad pages fell 6.7% in 2007, 19% in 2008, and 26% in 2009, dropping from 1,991 in 2006 to 1,117 in 2009 -- an overall drop of 44% in just three years, according to the Publishers Information Bureau. Over the same period, the title's official rate card revenues fell by half, from $483.3 million to $241 million. In the first quarter of 2010, ad pages fell another 20.4% to 208.

Glamour Partners with Match.com For Dating Service

Glamour has entered into a licensing partnership with Match.com, which will introduce a new Glamour-branded dating service called Glamour Matchmaker, according to The Wall Street Journal. The dating site will feature men selected by Glamour staffers and organized into categories by personality types, who will presumably be more desirable or appropriate dates for readers than Match.com's run-of-the-mill.

Glamour also revealed plans to partner with Hyperion to publish "Engagement Chicken and 99 Other Recipes to Get Everything You Want Out of Life," sometime in 2011-2012. Other titles based on Glamour columns are to follow.

Noland Steps Down at Architectural Digest

Media veteran Paige Rense Noland will retire from her position as editor in chief of Architectural Digest in August after 35 years in the top spot at the publication -- a momentous change for the Conde Nast-owned title, which enjoys its current reputation, in large part, as a result of her decades-long efforts.

Over her long career, Noland took what was essentially a small B2B trade pub and transformed it into a leading shelter magazine and one of the main arbiters of style in home design and decoration.

Noland was also the founding editor of Bon Appetit. She took the editor in chief post at Architectural Digest in 1975; Conde Nast bought publisher Knapp Communications in 1993.

AIM Buys Climbing Magazines

Active Interest Media has completed an agreement to purchase Skram Media's Climbing, Urban Climber -- both category leaders -- and Mountain Gazette properties, expand AIM's growing portfolio in the outdoor market. The Skram titles will join AIM's recently formed Outdoor Group, which currently includes Backpacker. The new additions will increase the Outdoor Group's combined readership to more than 1.35 million and its online audience to 430,000 unique visitors a month.