Gayle Kabaker, "June Brides"

June is the most popular month of the year to get married, and not just for the Romans, who did so to honor Juno, the goddess of marriage. It is also preferred by media power couples. Three of them snuck in late-late June weddings over the weekend. 

New Republic publisher Chris Hughes and Sean Eldridge's Saturday wedding lived up to couple's reputation as the photogenic poster grooms for marriage equality. But the blow-out might have caused a scheduling conflict for fellow Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, whose buddy Washington Post CEO and chairman Donald Graham married Bloomberg executive editor for investigations Amanda Bennett the same day. (Luckily, their Philadelphia nuptials were family only, the Post reported.)

On the opposite side of the country, in Catalina Island, Calif., a New York Times wedding was underway: Times education writer Tanya Caldwell wed former Times reporter Jonathan Abrams. He is now a staff writer for Grantland.

In the two most-recent fiscal years, Post Co.'s newspaper division lost a combined $356 million while Kaplan's higher-education unit alone, which excludes the test-preparation business, posted an operating profit of nearly $450 million.

Increasingly short-staffed Newsweek is currently waiting around in the Washington Post Co. offices on Hudson Street, while they're being readied for Kaplan. Make way for the money.

Mr. Meacham oversaw a big experiment in the Newsweek redesign last year, and, simply, it did not succeed. When Newsweek went on the block in May, Mr. Meacham said he was interested in buying the magazine. Within weeks, it was apparent that this was not plausible. At the same time, the critics came down hard on Mr. Meacham, and blamed him for Newsweek's failed experiment at creating an Economist-like magazine (he once told me that his magazine is for people who are interested in "what I'm interested in").

Mr. Meacham announced his resignation in an email to the Newsweek staff this afternoon:

“It has been a privilege beyond measure to have worked for NEWSWEEK and for The Washington Post Company for the past 15 years. I will always be grateful for the opportunity the magazine gave me to serve alongside all of you,” he wrote the staff in an e-mail this afternoon. "For half a century the Graham family created and sustained a culture in which we were able to do good, important work, and I know NEWSWEEK will continue to do so.

“This summer I decided that the change in ownership was a natural occasion for me to move on, and I told Don and Ann [McDaniel, Managing Director of NEWSWEEK] that I would see the magazine through the sale and then explore what may be next for me. I wish Mr. Harman and his team all the success in the world. As I have told him, no one will be rooting for him, for you, and for the institution more than I will. The journalism you create matters to the country and to the world, perhaps now more than ever.”

Though news outfits like Reuters and Politico had interest in Newsweek for about ten seconds, those candidates quickly vanished, and the short list of who was going to buy Newsweek became shorter and shorter. Enter Sidney Harman, who is the new owner of Newsweek and who we'll be taking a close look at in the weeks to come.

Last week bids from a partnership of two Chinese media companies were turned away by the company, according to Fortune. No real reason was given.

Having a huge pile of money to burn is not enough to buy the magazine. The buyer will have to have the right politics and intentions as well. And they shouldn't be from China.

Sidney Harman and Fred Drasner are still in the hunt.

Bids for the magazine are due today at 5 p.m. to Allen & Co., which will host its annual conference for media bigs in Sun Valley next week.

He reports that Thomson Reutuers, which took an early look at buying the magazine, is no longer interested. He said that parlor game favorites like The Huffington Post and The Daily Beast are also not interested.

He did find one potential buyer: "Sidney Harman, the 91-year-old pioneer in audio who made many millions as a founder of Harman Kardon, has told several people he has a serious interest in buying the magazine."

There are others that have shown interest, but Mr. Carr makes the fairly popular point that if Donald Graham couldn't solve Newsweek's problems, who can?

"Newsweek has already been reinvented, downsized and digitized in almost every way imaginable," he wrote. "If there is a move left on the board to avoid a checkmate, it's hiding in plain sight."

Newsweek has been part of the Washington Post Company since 1961. Allen and Company will help Donald Graham make the sale.

It appears that Newsweek's redesign and reorientation (a slicker look for a smaller audience) that was introduced last year by Jon Meacham has not done enough to save it from crushing losses.

Donald Graham, in a statement, said the magazine "might be a better fit elsewhere."