There’s a profile of Newsweek owner Sidney Harman in this week’s issue of New York, and a chunk of it appears to have been cobbled together over the last few days — The Daily Beast/Newsweek merger only fell apart less than a week ago. As a whole, the article helps make sense of the embattled magazine’s new owner, his late-stage jump into media, and his approach to his new property’s financial woes.
The piece also contains a timeline of how the deal fell apart after months of negotiations, as well as a number of choice quotes from the 92-year-old man who made his fortune selling audio equipment.
On his sound health of mind: “I know I don’t look or act my age.”
On potential editors: “When I was talking to Tina Brown, I kept other candidates warm, not hot. Now I will heat them up.”
On his decision to buy it: “The vast majority of people get up figuring out how to get through the goddamned day. I say, ‘Take charge of your own damned life.’ That’s what I’m doing with Newsweek.”
On Newsweek’s vision: “The opportunity for Newsweek is to weekly make sense of it all. To connect the dots: There’s a phrase that resonates not just for the American public but for world.”
On having a troubling senior moment: “Why can’t I remember the word dinosaur?”
Perhaps 92 isn’t the new 40, after all.
