Newsweek Sold For $1; 75 Employees On The Chopping Block

On Monday, Donald Graham, the chairman and CEO of the Washington Post Company, announced that he had released ownership of Newsweek to the 91-year-old stereo equipment mogul, Sidney Harman.

Staff members at Newsweek may have been mislead when Graham told them that Harman would “keep a majority of Newsweek’s very talented staff.” That, he said, was one of the reasons he felt comfortable selling the financially faulted magazing for $1.

However, according to the New York Times’ Jeremy Peters, roughly 75 employees will be getting the axe. The staff, which was 325 members, will be reduced to 250 by some projections.

Newsweek executives Tom Asheim and Ann McDaniel told employees that they would be given more information about the future of their magazine, and their jobs, in the next three to six weeks.

It is noteworthy that Harman is married to Democratic California congresswoman, Jane Harman.