It has been reported by Associated Press that the American weekly news magazine Newsweek may cease its print publication by the end of this year. Inter Active Corp. (IAC) chief Barry Diller, who owns the majority stake in the company, revealed this during a conference call.

Diller suggested that the magazine would eventually shift to an online-only publication, which would begin as early as this fall.

“The transition will happen. The transition to online from hard print will take place. We’re examining all of our options,” Politico quoted Diller, as saying.

“We’re looking at all options for Newsweek and will have a plan in place by September or October,” he added.

According to The Guardian, Diller believes that at some point there will be a transition to online from hard print, not entirely, but a general transition.

“I’m not saying it will happen totally, but the transition to online from hard print will take place,” he said.

Magazines and newspapers have been trying to adapt to a world in which readers get more of their information from free websites and advertisers funnel more of their marketing budgets to less expensive alternatives online.

Mounting losses prompted The Washington Post Co. in 2010 to sell Newsweek for $1 to stereo equipment magnate Sidney Harman. Harman died the following year.

Before he died, he placed Newsweek into a joint venture with IAC’s The Daily Beast website in an effort to trim the magazine’s losses and widen its online audience.