Travel Magazine Sold to Investment Company

BUDGET TRAVEL, the financially ailing travel magazine, has been sold by owner The Washington Post Company to Fletcher Asset Management, a New York based investment firm.  Financial terms of the sale were not disclosed.

Budget Travel has lost over 28% of revenue during 2009 and The Washington Post Company needed to part with the travel magazine to focus more on its also monetarily challenged NEWSWEEK title.  Tom Ascheim, CEO of Newsweek, released a statement saying that the new owner had agreed to keep all of Budget Travel’s management in place and “essentially all” of the editorial staff.  Fletcher also plans to keep the 10 issue-a-year schedule and keep the online edition live.

Budget Travel, founded by travel icon Arthur Frommer, has been part of the Washington Post Company since 1991 and boasts a circulation of nearly 700,000.