Diller spares ‘Daily Beast’
It appearđs that the embattled Daily Beast has been given a reprieve by parent IAC/InterActiveCorp.
The Daily Beast is not for sale and is not closing, Rhona Murphy, the publicationâs interim CEO, said in a Friday afternoon memo to theđź staff.
âIAC has approved in concept the operating budget for 2014,â Murphy continued in the memo, a copy of which was obtained by Theđ Post.
The future of the money-losing 5-year-old publication was put in doubt last week when founding editor Tina Brown announced her intention to leave at year’s end.
IAC Chairman Barry Diller was exâpected to make a decision â to shut it down, sell it or keep it going â by early October.
The decision to keep funding it came weeks early â but didnât convince everyone it woulđĽd be oꌍn the IAC books long term.
One insider said the news was âgreeted with a lot of eye rolling given what has goÜŤne on lately.â
Diller has already annđounced plans to sell the foundering Newswđťeek to the owners of the International Business Times.
With the Daily Beast sharing reporters with Newsweek, and with several of Brownâs troops heading toward thâe exits, if the Daily Beast website continues, it will have to rebuild staff.
Murđ¨phy got the interim CEO job in June when then-CEO Baba Shetty quit.
Newsweek Daily Beast prŕźşesident Robert Gregory is heading out the door in the next few weeks.
With Brown exiting, many are expecting đexecutive editor John Avlon will be bumped up to the top job.
IBT Media, the publiđˇsher of International Business Times, expects ꌰto formally take over Newsweek on Oct. 1.
So far, none of the staffers have been oáŚffered jobs by the new owđłners,
They did tap Jim Impoco to be the new editor of a digital-only Newsweek, but he has been staffing the operation with new people.
William OâMeara, president of the Newspaper Guild, which represents the editorial workęŚers at Newsweek/ Daily Beast, said he expects to meet with the new owners next week.
Insiders report there are already a lot of empty desŕ˛ks insidđe the Daily Beast.
Sources estimate it will probably lose $20 million in đś2013.
Diller was quoted in a Daily Beast story praę§ising the Beast and Brown.
âIf you removed the failed experiment to revive Newsweek, the story of thâe Daily Bestđ is one of excellence in reporting, in design and in digital distribution,â stated Diller.