The ideologies of The Weekly Standard and The New Republic may be on the polar opposites of the political spectrum, but they have at least one thing in common: They both could have new owners this year.
Liberal political magazine The New Republic already does. CanWest Global Communications Corp. sold it in March to a group of investors led by former Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) executive Laurence Grafstein and longtime editor in chief Marty Peretz for an undisclosed price. (The Deal Pipeline subscribers can read more here.) Meanwhile, News Corp. is close to selling its conservative political publication, The Weekly Standard, to billionaire businessman Philip Anschutz for an undisclosed price, according to the Los Angeles Times.
The potential deal is possibly a harbinger of things to come at News Corp. as it reviews its stable of print publications. The Weekly Standard has a circulation of 83,000, with the L.A. Times describing its reach touching the "the upper echelon of Capitol Hill insiders." With the addition of The Wall Street Journal in 2007 to News Corp., Murdoch & Co. may be thinking that the business daily's growing right-wing slant might make The Weekly Standard more expendable.
Murdoch only two days ago commented that newspapers will be paperless in 20 years. Does the potential Weekly Standard deal portend the same sentiment for all print publications? In general, the magazine industry has been brutalized over the last year as advertising has waned, triggering major restructurings that include layoffs, less frequent publishing schedules and closures. - Gerald Magpily
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