This morning's WaPo reports that the Washington Times is up for sale. However, there may not be much left to sell.
One of Moon's children, Justin Moon, who was chosen by his father to run many of the church's Asian businesses, has slashed the newspaper's annual subsidy, forcing the paper's executives, led by Moon's eldest son, Preston Moon, to search for deep pockets elsewhere. Meanwhile, the newspaper has hacked its newsroom staff by more than half, from 225 in 2002 down to about 70 people, raised the paper's price and deliberately shrunk its circulation to cut costs, shed its metro and sports sections, and fired or pushed out several top executives, including its publisher earlier this week. Several reporters said most of the staffers are seeking to leave.
The paper's financial struggles are so serious that basic maintenance at its headquarters has fallen by the wayside. The building is crawling with mice and snakes. Also, nobody really knows how many copies it's selling--it hasn't reported to the Audit Bureau of Circulation since 2008. No wonder the paper's longtime religion writer, Julia Duin, calls it "a rudderless ship."
The paper's former editor, John Solomon, has made two bids to buy the paper. One investor group collapsed, and the Moons rejected his other bid. But will it even be worth it? No metro section, a bunch of reporters wanting to leave, and no word on circulation. Sounds to me like whoever buys it might end up closing it soon afterward.