Sister blog FishbowlNY reports that four more employees have left Newsweek:

Deputy editor Julia Baird, global business editor Kathleen Deveny, staff writer Nancy Cook (who will now be working for Fast Company), and Washington bureau staff writer Suzanne Smalley (to The Atlantic).

And more bad news (for Newsweek anyway): Terry McDonnell, editor of Sports Illustrated, was in the running to go join Newsweek as top editor but he told Keith Kelly “I have no plan to leave Sports Illustrated.”

The Newsweek/Daily Beast deal is off, too, so that leaves the top editor position still a mystery. Kelly reports that owner Sidney Harman has talked to more than a dozen candidates and is confident he’ll have someone in the slot by mid-November.

The likelihood of a Newsweek/Daily Beast merger is “increasing” says the WSJ, for a couple of reasons.

One: Newsweek’s new owner, Sidney Harman, claims he’s not trying to make money, just turn the magazine around.
Two: Having Tina Brown as editor would “would provide an infusion of talent and buzz for a magazine that’s been struggling to exceed 60 pages.”
Three: The Daily Beast is expected to lose $10 million this year. (Ouch!) Newsweek would give the website a global print platform.

Add it all up and you get a tempting conclusion. However, the WSJ adds, “people familiar with Mr. Harman’s thinking said he may be wary of handing the reins to a strong-willed editor who also answers to another boss.” (That’d be Barry Diller.) Should a deal go through, Brown would become the editor of Newsweek on top of her existing duties and would answer to both bosses.

The Daily Beast averages 4.6 million visitors a month.

- Well it’s over, and it only seems like yesterday when we first began talking about the potential suitors for Newsweek. Actually, scratch that. Finally, the transition is over! The Washington Post Co. officially handed Sidney Harman the keys to Newsweek today. But the company didn’t announce how much it received for the magazine. Now we will start to see the real changes as rumors of a Daily Beast partnership continue to circle the troubled weekly.

- New York Times magazine finally got its next top editor. But it’s not who most people expected. They brought on Bloomberg Businessweek‘s executive editor Hugo Lindgren, who has spent time at the Times Magazine, as well as New York magazine. But check out this internal memo from NYT executive editor Bill Keller. He actually uses a non-attributed quote to say why they hired Lindgren. “‘He’s very smart, wildly creative and charismatic,’” says one editor who has worked closely with him. ‘People like him and want to do their best work for him. He just has a great magazine head.’” What? They couldn’t get anyone on record?

- All right, enough already, National Journal. We get it, you want to hire top talent, but does it have to be everyday? Now they brought on Newsweek senior editor Adam Kushner to take over as deputy magazine editor. “Adam will inject rigor and discipline to our analyses, ensuring that our reporters seize the heart of every story and not its capillaries,” said National Journal Group Editor-in-Chief Ron Fournier in a press release. “Under his guidance, National Journal readers won’t be left asking, ‘So what? Why does this matter?’ They’ll know what happened in Washington and why it’s relevant to their lives and work.” OK, are you all done already?

- It seems everyone needs to know social media these days, and if you’re in Chicago that includes bartenders. The Awl found this job listing for a bartender in Chicago that is an “established networker both in person and through social media.” Really, they need a bartender with a thousand Twitter followers? I’m not sure I want my bartender tweeting, but I guess that could just be me.

It’s been a busy week for Newsweek. Not only did the magazine name a new global publisher (h/t FishbowlNY), but the soon-to-be-Sidney Harman-owned property is reportedly in talks with Daily Beast editor-in-chief Tina Brown to run the magazine.

And Folio: noticed something interesting on Mediabistro.com’s job board: there are two open positions at the magazine, posted yesterday.

“One is a product manager/director, which will be responsible for Web and mobile product planning and execution, and will work with third party partners to assess partnerships and licensing opportunities and implement new products.

“The other is a director of audience development and analytics, which will be responsible for driving traffic on all Newsweek Digital products as well as overseeing digital analytics.”

Not quite newsroom jobs, but ones that will be crucial if Newsweek wants to take the cachet it once enjoyed in print and translate it for an online audience.

Talks between Newsweek‘s soon-to-be official owner Sidney Harman and the Daily Beast have heated up reports the New York Post‘s Keith Kelly. The plan would combine the digital group within Newsweek with the Daily Beast, while Daily Beast editor-in-chief Tina Brown would also oversee the print side of Newsweek.

The negotiations continue between Harman and Daily Beast owner Barry Diller. Kelly writes:

A tipster tells us that Newsweek buyer Dr. Sidney Harman is getting something else for his $1 purchase of the struggling newsweekly: a number of “liabilities,” of course, like the fact that the magazine could lose $70 million just this year alone. But the Washington Post company reportedly threw in another sweetener: our tipster, who wanted to remain anonymous but has direct knowledge of the situation, tells us that Wash Post Co has offered to cover severance payments for any laid-off Newsweek staffers for up to a year.

This means that Harman has a long time to “kick the tires,” says the tipster. If the Post hadn’t made that offer, Harman would have to make layoffs within four months or so, or he would be responsible for severance payments. So in a way, making it cheaper for the new owner to cut jobs actually increases the likelihood that more jobs will remain. (Of course, it goes two ways–making it cheaper for the new owner to cut jobs means that it’s cheaper for the new owner to cut jobs.)

A spokesperson for the Post company, Rima Calderon, had no comment and would not confirm or deny the tipster’s account.