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Bids Submitted for Newsweek Sale
Two magnates, a conservative publisher and the company that bought TV Guide for $1 have all raised their hands as potential buyers of Newsweek.Dammit. I didn't get my bid in. I had a $20, but I used it to buy gas. By the time the deadline to submit preliminary bids for the magazine expired Wednesday at 5 p.m., at least four parties had indicated an interest to the Washington Post Company, which has said it no longer views Newsweek as an economically viable operation. "We're takin' bids on this corpse! Step right up!" It was unknown whether the Post Company considered any of the bids to be financially attractive. None of the parties that submitted bids would say how much they offered, nor would they disclose other terms of their proposals. I could maybe go as high as $25... The Post Company declined to comment. "Gut nuttin'." The group of potential buyers is eclectic and diverse. One is Newsmax Media, which publishes the right-leaning magazine and Web site of the same name. The company confirmed its bid in a statement issued on Wednesday. Jonathan Alter'll be taking the gaspipe. Howard Fineman's looking for rope. Eleanor Clift is thinking "nunnery." Another bidder was OpenGate Capital, the private equity fund that owns TV Guide, said someone with direct knowledge of the company's offer, who was granted anonymity because the negotiations were private. I'da outbid their buck... Thane Ritchie, the hedge fund manager, who unsuccessfully tried to buy the Sun Times Media Group last year, also submitted a bid, according to his spokesman. Mr. Ritchie has developed a reputation as something of a political provocateur in Illinois, most recently for his efforts to explore creating a third political party with supporters of Ross Perot. It's been done. Remember "Go, Pat, Go"? He went. And Sidney Harman, the 91-year-old founder of the stereo equipment giant Harman Kardon, said that he had informed the Post Company that he was interested in exploring a potential bid. "Yeah. I need a tax writeoff. Got too much money." Haim Saban, the media mogul who had expressed some interest in buying Newsweek, was not believed to be among those seriously considering placing a bid, according to someone familiar with the bidding process. "Not for me, thanks. I can buy concrete block cheaper." There are many lingering questions about the parties that have expressed curiosity in Newsweek, including their motives for buying the magazine and how seriously they are considering it. When companies are for sale, bidders have been known to submit intentionally low prices to generate buzz. Or sometimes they just want to roll the dice on the outside chance their lowball bid is accepted. You mean I coulda gotten by bidding $10? Newsmax, which was founded by Christopher Ruddy, the onetime Clinton family antagonist and former New York Post reporter, moved quickly to dispense with any speculation that it would remake Newsweek with a conservative slant. "The company's bid for Newsweek's print and online assets is congruent with its objective to diversify and expand into numerous distinct media brand offerings," Newsmax said in a statement. "Newsweek's staff, advertisers and readers can be assured that if Newsmax Media Inc.'s bid is successful, Newsweek's stellar brand and editorial representation would remain distinct from our other brands." "Newsmax has often published things that are interesting. Newsweak would provide a welcome contrast, since they haven't published anything interesting since 1993. Mr. Harman stressed in a brief telephone interview that he was not making a bid but merely expressing an "intention to bid," which he said was a significant distinction. "I'm interested in looking at this extremely complicated matter," he said, adding that he did not intend to specify a purchase price in his letter of intent. "Y'see, I'm not really bidding. I'm getting ready to bid. Or maybe I'm fixin' to get ready to bid. Or it might be more accurate to say that I'm making plans to be fixin' to get ready to bid." Whatever the final purchase price of Newsweek is, assuming the Washington Post Company can attract an offer it deems financially palatable, it is unlikely to be robust if the recent sales prices for magazines are any indication. TV Guide sold for $1 in 2008 to OpenGate Capital, which assumed tens of millions of dollars in liabilities. Bloomberg bought BusinessWeek late last year for around $5 million. BusinessWeak at least has some utility, or at least potential utility... Any price, of course, would tell only part of the tale of what Newsweek is worth. I believe that under the iron laws of economics it's worth precisely what somebody's willing to pay for it, not a penny more... "The top-line number is almost meaningless," said Walter Isaacson, the former Time managing editor, pointing out that liabilities like debt and pension obligations assumed by Newsweek's buyer are the more telling numbers. "I don't think a number makes any sense, whether it's zero, or $5 million or $20 million." If nobody bids and the company goes quietly into the night what happens to its debt and pension obligations?Y'gonna sue its estate? Posted by: Fred 2010-06-04 |
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