The Huffington Post. Popular Newsweek magazine up for sale

According to sources who have been briefed, IAC is sending out inquiries to prospective buyers who may be interested in purchasing the 80-year-old Newsweek, which ended weekly publication of its domestic edition late last year in favor of an digital-only format.

As with the first sale of Newsweek, the price is expected to be negligible; what will matter more is the assumption of liabilities, although Newsweek is a much pared-down operation.

Newsweek renamed its digital tablet edition Newsweek Global, although print editions still exist overseas under royalty arrangements. IAC is pitching the opportunity to “innovate” a business model, with an emphasis on narrative journalism and plans for one-advertiser-per-article sponsorships. A “soft” launch of a redesign of its Newsweek website earlier this month includes the same content as the tablet edition, and the company has announced plans to move to “metered” Internet access with subscriptions at $2.99 per month.

In the most recent quarter ended on March 31, IAC reported an operating loss of $8.8 million in its media group, which includes News_Beast, the combined Newsweek and Daily Beast operations, from an operating loss of $6.7 million in the same quarter a year earlier. The company does not break out separate earnings for News_Beast.

According to sources who have been briefed, Newsweek’s 1.5 million subscribers, in the quarter before it ended its print edition, fell to 470,000 in the first quarter of this year, with estimates that it will continue to decline throughout the year.