Who’s ready for more Newsweek news! Yay! Yay? Anyway, we know it’s the afternoon before a long weekend, but check this out: All the press (read: attacks) Newsweek got about its Niall Ferguson cover story paid off in terms of website traffic.

According to an internal memo from Tina Brown, August was a record setting month for Newsweek/The Daily Beast. The site “will close out [the month] at over 15 million uniques / 118 million page views.” The print side did well too — with ad sales up 22 percent compared to last August.

With these numbers, you can all safely assume there will be plenty more crazy Newsweek stories in the future. Brown’s full note is after the jump.

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Newsweek/The Daily Beast has announced several promotions and changes. See below for a summary, then after the jump for the full memo from Tina Brown.

• Chelsie Gosk has been promoted to senior director of digital strategy and audience development
• Brian Ries has been promoted to senior editor, social media
• Joyce Tang has been named deputy editor of Newsweek’s iPad and tablet editions
• Will O’Connor is rejoining as public relations associate
• Sam Schlinkert has been named deputy social media editor and audience coordinator

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According to Reuters, the family of the late Sidney Harman has stopped investing in Newsweek/The Daily Beast. Since IAC continues to subsidize the venture, its 50 percent interest is now a controlling stake.

The family decided to stop giving to Newsweek/The Daily Beast because it wanted to cap contributions, but wouldn’t say what that number was.

The Harman’s family’s statement to Reuters:

The Harman family remains supportive partners in the business of Newsweek Daily Beast, including service on the Board by Jane Harman and family participation in various informal roles. However, given the death of Sidney Harman, who was actively involved in the Newsweek Daily Beast business, the Harman trust has indicated that it does not intend to make further capital contributions to the venture.

Newsweek/The Daily Beast is launching a new fashion blog, called FashionBeast. WWD reports that the site will be helmed by Robin Givhan and Isabel Wilkinson and be updated several times per day.

FashionBeast — which launches on July 25 — replaces the Daily Beast’s fashion section, which today has a picture of Madonna’s daughter wearing the infamous “Cone Bra.” We’re not sure if anyone will miss that kind of coverage or not.

Richard Just is joining Newsweek/The Daily Beast. Just is coming from a stint as editor-in-chief of The New Republic. He served as TNR’s editor from 2010 until late last month, when Franklin Foer returned to the magazine as editor.

At Newsweek/The Daily Beast, Just will work as consulting editor at the company’s Washington D.C. bureau.

See below for the internal memo from Tina Brown announcing Just’s arrival.

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Bob Shrum has joined Newsweek/The Daily Beast. WWD reports that Shrum is penning a weekly online column on politics and the upcoming election. Shrum comes to Newsweek/The Daily Beast from The Week, where he served as a contributing editor since 2009.

Shrum has a deep political history, having worked as a speechwriter and consultant for a variety of presidential campaigns.

Aside from The Week, Shrum’s work has appeared in publications such as The Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, and The New Republic.

Daniel Blackman, Newsweek/The Daily Beast’s chief digital officer, is out after only a little over a year on the job. Adweek reports that some are claiming Blackman was forced to leave, but there is no confirmation of that as of yet.

Blackman came to Newsweek/The Daily Beast last May from HowCast, a company he co-founded. Prior to that he was with Google, building relationships for its YouTube and Google Video platforms.

Pinterest drives traffic, so news organizations would be smart to try and take advantage of that. By one set of metrics, PBS, USA Today, Newsweek/The Daily Beast and The Wall Street Journal are all doing fairly well. Poynter analyzed a collection of 13 media entities using Pinterest, including The Chicago Tribune, The Guardian, The Washington Post and more, and found that PBS leads the pack when considering “repins.”

For every pin PBS posts, it is repinned six times. Following PBS is USA Today (4.4 repins per pin), Newsweek/The Daily Beast (4.3) and the Journal (4.2).

The New York Times wasn’t counted in the study because the paper isn’t on Pinterest yet. There is a Times Pinterest account, but all that is there is a post proclaiming that it is “starting in June 2012.”

Better hurry.

Newsweek/The Daily Beast has hired Doug Bachelis as its new Executive Director of Marketing. Bachelis comes to the company from Prometheus Global Media, where he served as Vice President of Marketing for its Branded Entertainment division since late 2010.

Prior to his time at Prometheus, Bachelis worked as Strategic Marketing Director for the Condé Nast Media Group and Marketing Director for USA Today.

Bachelis starts on June 11.