The China-based Southern Media Group partnered with Chengdu B-Ray Media to put in a bid for Newsweek, the magazine currently for sale from the Washington Post Company. According to Fortune, “perhaps not surprisingly, the offer was roundly rejected.” We’re not sure why it was so obvious they’d reject it; the magazine is leaking money like Scrooge McDuck’s money bin after Huey and Dewey accidentally poked a hole in it.
“Personally, I feel the reason is quite complex, but there is one point that can be made: The seller genuinely does not comprehend the desires of idealistic Chinese media workers and institutions,” said Xiang Xi, the editor of Southern Weekly, a popular Southern Media Group newsmagazine that has become known for its investigative pieces and liberal editorials. Their bravery in the face of the notoriously free-press–averse Chinese government (according to Reporters Without Borders, in their rankings of the relative national-press freedom, China ranks 168th out of 175, coming in just before Burma, Iran, and North Korea) wasn’t enough for Newsweek, though. Either that, or they were worried that, like the Times, they would have to start using the word “Renminbi” to talk about Chinese currency, instead of “Yuan.” That is a headache they just don’t need right now.
Newsweek, brought to you by…China? [Fortune/CNN Money]
