By Frank Ahrens

WASHINGTON – Iconic but troubled Newsweek magazine has been sold by one Washington power family to another.

Washington philanthropist, education innovator and hi-fidelity stereo pioneer Sidney Harman will buy Newsweek from The Washington Post Co., the company said Monday, three months after Post Co. Chairman Donald E. Graham admitted that his company could not lead the struggling newsweekly back to profitability.

The Post Co. did not release the sale price of Newsweek. The cash component of the purchase is minimal, but the total obligations taken on by Harman — assuming leases, satisfying subscribers who have already paid to receive the magazine — run into the tens of millions of dollars, according to a source close to the deal who spoke on condition of anonymity. The Post Co. will continue to pay the Newsweek staffers’ pensions.

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