The Stereo Magnate May Just Have Some Good Ideas

Sidney Harman thinks you’ll buy Newsweek as long as there is better quality, heavier paper. And he said he thinks that extra heft will make newsstand buyers want to take it home and read it. The WSJ’s Russell Adams wrote about the deal in today’s paper.

Harman has a lot a stake…he’s just agreed to buy the money-losing newsweekly from the Washington Post. This year the magazine should lose 20 million, but that doesn’t phase the 92-year-old Harman.  He admits that when he saw the financials, ‘it was pretty tough stuff.’

 One question that comes up a lot when you’re pushing 93 is, who is your successor? Harman won’t say, but he will confirm that it won’tbe his wife, US Rep Jan Harman D.,Calif.

One idea that the stereo magnate has that makes sense is his idea that the Newsweek brand should involve more than a newsweekly: lecturing, seminars, conventions and discounts on books written by Newsweekers are other ideas he’s bringing forth.

When asked about who he”ll hire as his editor, here’s what he said. I want an editor who has a fundamental  respect for the business aspects of the operation, who doesn’t think this is somehow an artistic undertaking totally separate from the real world.”