Newsweek Not Thrilled With The Company Avenue Capital Keeps

Newsweek parent The Washington Post Co. is said to be nervous over bidder Avenue Capital Group’s plans to forge a closer relationship with the National Enquirer‘s publisher, American Media, Inc.

Avenue Capital is proposing that AMI handle advertising and other functions not related to editorial. Nonetheless, the association with AMI’s titles might not sit very well with The Washington Post Co. and stirred up concerns at the company over the future of the ailing news magazine.

In an effort to assuage these fears, Avenue Capital sent the company a letter stating that it, and it alone, would oversee Newsweek‘s editorial content if named the winning bidder.

If the Washington Post Co. decides that its fears are substantial enough to take Avenue Capital Group out of the running, it will have to choose between auto equipment mogul Sidney Harman, founder of an audio-equipment company, and former New York Daily News publisher Fred Drasner. According to the Wall Street Journal, “Avenue remains interested in owning Newsweek, but it now suspects Mr. Harman is the favored bidder.”

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