WSJournal. Turning a Page: Newsweek Ends Print Run

Newsweekly's Move Online Leaves Time Magazine Without Longtime Print Rival

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324660404578201432812202750.html

Newsweek magazine ended almost 80 years in print with its issue dated Dec. 31 as it transitions to an online-only format, a move that makes it the most widely-read magazine yet to give up on the print media.

On the cover of the magazine, which was released Monday, is a shot of what was its Manhattan office building, with a Twitter hashtag, #lastprintissue, across the front in red.

The magazine had said in October that it would go all digital, and is now part of the news and commentary site The Daily Beast. Tina Brown, who was editor of the magazine, is also the editor of the Daily Beast, which is controlled by IAC/Interactive Corp.

Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

The magazine's old headquarters.

Newsweek's switch is a signpost of how traditional print news outlets are being battered by an exodus of readers and advertisers to the Web.

Since 2005, Newsweek's circulation has dropped by about half to 1.5 million and advertising pages plunged more than 80%, while the magazine's annual losses had lately reached roughly $40 million.

Subscriptions to the new all-digital publication, called Newsweek Global, cost $4.99 for a single copy—the same price as the magazine—or $24.99 for an annual subscription.

Newsweek will have the help of the free Daily Beast as a promotional platform. The Daily Beast's traffic has grown 36% in the past year to five million unique visitors per month, according to comScore, a market-research firm.

Newsweek/Zuma Press

Newsweek's first cover displayed photos of Adolf Hitler, Franklin Roosevelt and Joseph Stalin.

Under Ms. Brown, a former editor of the New Yorker and Vanity Fair, Newsweek became known for provocative covers, such as a famous one imagining what Princess Diana would look like at age 50. In an October interview, Ms. Brown insisted that, in the digital form, "the cover will play the same role it has as a wonderful marketplace of ideas."

Founded in 1933 by a former Time foreign editor, Thomas J.C. Martyn, Newsweek was ever-present on the coffee tables of many American homes for decades, keeping people abreast of everything from the Vietnam War to movie reviews.

The first issue of Newsweek was dated Feb. 17, 1933, and cost a dime. A subscription cost $4 a year, according to that cover.

In 1961, Newsweek was bought by Washington Post Co. WPO -0.21% But decades on, the Internet accelerated a downward spiral.

Two years ago Washington Post Co. sold the magazine for $1 to Sidney Harman, an audio-equipment tycoon who later merged the magazine with IAC's Daily Beast.

Mr. Harman died last year. In June Mr. Harman's family pulled its financial support from the venture, leaving IAC to continue funding it as the majority owner.

Newsweek's move online ends a longtime print rivalry with Time Magazine, the leader in the newsweekly space, with a circulation of 3.3 million, according to the Alliance for Audited Media, formerly known as the Audit Bureau of Circulations.

Experience of other online-only publications is mixed. US News & World Report, originally a newsweekly, went online-only in 2008, and is profitable with 180 staff members, according to editor Brian Kelly. Partly thanks to its popular college rankings, its website draws about 5.9 million unique visitors a month, according to comScore.

Online publications requiring a paid subscription have struggled. The Daily, News Corp NWSA -0.95% .'s iPad-only publication, ceased publishing on Dec. 15, ending an unprofitable experiment in digital publishing.

News Corp. also owns Dow Jones, the publisher of The Wall Street Journal.