Raymond Perelman Offers to Resolve Newspaper War, Buy the Inquirer

"The feuding can't continue."

The Inquirer reports this morning about a twist in the war between the owners of Interstate General Media, which owns the Inquirer, Daily News, and Philly.com: Raymond Perelman wants to buy the whole damned thing and end the war.

The goal, he said, is to end the strife between two factions of partners in Interstate General Media, who are battling in court for control of the company’s three media properties.

“Something has to happen,” Perelman said. “The feuding can’t continue.”

There were no immediate signs that his offer was being considered.

Perelman is 96, so this might not be a long-term solution for the papers. (Sydney Harman was already 90 when he purchased Newsweek in 2010; he died less than a year later, and that magazine is no longer a printed product, though it still exists online.) And it can’t escape notice that the Philadelphia Newspaper War has gotten so crazy that even a member of the famously litigious Perelman family thinks it needs to end.

But Perelman seems sincere: “The sad part of it is, they’re all great guys,” Perelman told the Inquirer. “It’s a shame, but these things happen. People get entrenched and they’re not going to move. I thought I’d step in to see if I can help.”