Billionaire Barry Diller Is Looking to Sell the Daily Beast

The Daily Beast’s owner, InterActiveCorp (IAC), has hired an advisory firm to look for potential buyers for the digital publication, the New York Times reported today (Jan. 13).

IAC is controlled by Barry Diller, a media mogul worth $3.9 billion. He launched the Daily Beast in 2008 with former New Yorker and Vanity Fair editor Tina Brown.

The politics and media site has had a tangled ownership history. It was merged with Newsweek in 2010 and co-owned by IAC and the estate of Sidney Harman, an engineer and businessman. In 2013, Newsweek was then acquired by IBT Media, leaving the Daily Beast again as an IAC subsidiary.

IAC also owns other publications like People, Better Homes and Gardens and Southern Living. It reportedly hired Whisper Advisors, a Santa Monica-based firm, to explore a sale. IAC declined to comment to the New York Times.