PENSKE DOESN’T BUY NEWSWEEK

Despite reports that a sale of Newsweek by Barry Diller’s IAC/Interactive to Penske Media, owner of Deadline.com and Variety, was all but a done deal, it was announced on Saturday that IBT Media, publisher of the eight-year-old International Business Times, had bought the eighty-year-old magazine. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. In a news release, IBT co-founder Jonathan Davis said, “We are 100-percent digital with a track record of successfully growing online media properties. … The Newsweek brand is strong around the world and we believe there is significant potential to leverage that as well as enhance the editorial offering and continue to modernize the operations and approach.” A spokesperson for IBT said that it has no plans to revive the print edition of the news magazine. In a note to staff, Newsweek chief Rhona Murphy said that there would be a 60-day transition period during which IBT will be meeting with the staff “about potential job opportunities at the new venture.” She concluded: “We believe IBT will serve as an excellent new home in which Newsweek has the opportunity to thrive.” Ironically that “new home” is Newsweek‘s old home — IBT took over Newsweek‘s old New York headquarters in 2011.