Diller spares ‘Daily Beast’

It appear🌞s 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 publication’s interim CEO, said in a Friday afternoon memo to the😼 staff.

“IAC has approved in concept the operating budget for 2014,” Murphy continued in the memo, a copy of which was obtained by The𒅌 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 ex✃pected to make a decision — to shut it down, sell it or keep it going — by early October.

The decision to keep funding it came weeks early — but didn’t convince everyone it woul🔥d be oꦫn the IAC books long term.

One insider said the news was “greeted with a lot of eye rolling given what has goܫne on lately.”

Diller has already ann🍌ounced plans to sell the foundering Newsw🐻eek to the owners of the International Business Times.

With the Daily Beast sharing reporters with Newsweek, and with several of Brown’s troops heading toward th♓e exits, if the Daily Beast website continues, it will have to rebuild staff.

Mur🍨phy got the interim CEO job in June when then-CEO Baba Shetty quit.

Newsweek Daily Beast pr༺esident Robert Gregory is heading out the door in the next few weeks.

With Brown exiting, many are expecting 🐟executive editor John Avlon will be bumped up to the top job.

IBT Media, the publi🐷sher of International Business Times, expects ꦰto formally take over Newsweek on Oct. 1.

So far, none of the staffers have been oღffered jobs by the new ow🌳ners,

﷽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 O’Meara, president of the Newspaper Guild, which represents the editorial workꦜers at Newsweek/ Daily Beast, said he expects to meet with the new owners next week.

Insiders report there are already a lot of empty desಌks insid🍒e the Daily Beast.

Sources estimate it will probably lose $20 million in 🎶2013.

Diller was quoted in a Daily Beast story pra꧙ising the Beast and Brown.

“If you removed the failed experiment to revive Newsweek, the story of th♚e Daily Best💛 is one of excellence in reporting, in design and in digital distribution,” stated Diller.