Newsweek Says Goodbye to Print

After 79 years in the print publication business, Newsweek is saying goodbye to its roots as it transitions to pure digital.

The internationally recognized magazine has announced that it would go all-digital as it releases its last printed magazine on Dec. 31.  Tina Brown and Baba Shetty said Newsweek is merely transitioning but not saying goodbye.

Brown is the Newsweek Daily Beast Co. editor-in-chief while Shetty is chief executive. The announcement of Newsweek was posted in a blog post in The Daily Beast, which is a companion website of Newsweek.

The shift of consumers from print to digital has forced media publications to reconsider their business models.

When Newsweek transitions to digital, it would be rebranded as Newsweek Global. It currently has about 1.5 million subscribers. Although this is much lower than its peak figure of three million, subscribers would still have access to its digital editions.

Some content, however, would still be free and available on the Daily Beast.

The bad news is that as Newsweek transitions to digital, job cuts would follow. Both Shetty and Brown, however, did not provide further details.

This is not the first time a magazine publication bit the dust and went digital. US News and World Report made a similar move in 2010.

The magazine industry also has had to deal with declining advertising sales. In the first semester of 2012, magazine ads in the US declined about 8.8 percent. Newsweek, however, defied the convention as its ad pages increased about 7.6 percent in the same period.