Newsweek ending print edition, job cuts expected

NEW YORK — Newsweek plans to end its print publication after 80 years and will shift to an all-digital format aimed at online users starting in early 2013. Job cuts are expected.

Newsweek’s last U.S. print edition will be its Dec. 31 issue.

With more and more consumers on the go and using their cellphones and tablets to receive the news, media organizations have had to increasingly shift more of their emphasis online.

SmartMoney, for example, announced in June that it was shuttering its print publication in favor of a digital format. Dow Jones & Co., a unit of News Corp., said at the time that 25 positions at SmartMoney would be eliminated.

Newsweek’s decision does not come as a complete surprise. Barry Diller, the head of the company that owns Newsweek, announced in July that the publication was examining its future as a weekly print magazine. Diller said then that producing a weekly news magazine in print form wasn’t easy.

The announcement of the change was made by Tina Brown, editor-in-chief and founder of The Newsweek Daily Beast Co., on The Daily Beast website Thursday.

“In our judgment, we have reached a tipping point at which we can most efficiently and effectively reach our readers in all-digital format,” she said.

Brown said staff cuts are expected, but didn’t give a specific figure. She also said that Newsweek’s editorial and print operations would be streamlined in the U.S. and abroad.

Brown said that the online publication will be called Newsweek Global and will be a single, worldwide edition that requires a paid subscription. It will be available for tablets and online reading, with certain content available on The Daily Beast website.

“We are transitioning Newsweek, not saying goodbye to it,” she said.