Newsweek/Daily Beast chief editor says 'joint venture isn't making money yet'

Washington, Mar 22 (ANI): Merging American weekly magazine 'Newsweek' and news reporting and opinion website 'The Daily Beast' isn't making money yet, and is not likely to make profits for another couple of years, the editor in chief of the joint venture has said.

Tina Brown, who led the merger of two media firms, however, pushed back hard against reports suggesting the Newsweek/Daily Beast Company suffered 30 million dollars in losses last year.

During a recent interview with 'Nightline', Brown called such reports "excessive," but admitted the company won't make money for few years.

"We are certainly not losing that amount, but we aren't making money yet and we won't make money for another couple of years," ABC News quoted Brown, as saying.

"But we will as long as we can build the brand back up again," Brown added.

Newsweek was losing tens of millions of dollars annually when investor Sidney Harman stepped and bought it from the Washington Post in August 2010.

A few months later Harman talked with Brown and her business partner at The Daily Beast, Barry Diller, about forming a single entity.

Over the past year, Brown, who is widely seen as one of the best editors of her generation, has repeatedly said this is a rebuilding time for Newsweek and that it will take a while it to redefine the brand's image and reposition it in the marketplace.

According to the report, she admitted that this past year has been "very difficult" because it "was all about just stopping the thing from crashing into the floor." (ANI)