Newsweek’s print edition has been resurrected from the dead — and with some serious currency.
The landmark magazine hits newsstands again in limited circulation Friday and will be on sale for $7.99 each. The publication had been in print since 1933 until making the decision to go digital-only in late 2012. Newsweek then offered a paid subscription tablet edition; critics called its new incarnation the “poster child of journalism failure.”
IBT Media bought the magazine in August 2013 and decided to relaunch Newsweek’s print edition with a circulation of 70,000 copies. While that’s down considerably from its peak of 3.3 million, the publisher remains optimistic it will be able to dramatically expand.
Also read: So, Is Tina Brown Sinking Newsweek?
This week’s issue features a provocative new cover story uncovering the once-secret identity of Bitcoin founder Satoshi Nakamoto. The newsmagazine sent Leah McGrath Goodman to track down his whereabouts using good, old fashioned public records and discovered he is a 64 year-old Japanese-American who lives outside of Los Angeles.
It was only while scouring a database that contained the registration cards of naturalized U.S. citizens that a Satoshi Nakamoto turned up whose profile and background offered a potential match. But it was not until after ordering his records from the National Archives and conducting many more interviews that a cohesive picture began to take shape.
Two weeks before our meeting in Temple City, I struck up an email correspondence with Satoshi Nakamoto, mostly discussing his interest in upgrading and modifying model steam trains with computer-aided design technologies. I obtained Nakamoto’s email through a company he buys model trains from.
Also read: 5 Things to Know About Newsweek’s New Owners IBT Media
The identity of the founder of Bitcoin — a digital currency created in 2009 that is bought and sold on peer-to-peer network — has confounded techies for years despite many attempts by countless publications including The New Yorker, Fast Company and many others. Newsweek’s scoop is so huge, many tech insiders are incredulous it actually found him.
Here is the cover of Friday’s comeback issue:
