Jan. 9 (Bloomberg) -- Hearst Corp. is seeking a buyer for its Seattle Post-Intelligencer newspaper within 60 days after losing $14 million last year amid dwindling circulation and advertising revenue.

If it fails to find a buyer, Hearst, based in New York, will stop printing the newspaper and only offer it online and cut jobs or shut it down entirely, the publisher said in a statement.

The Post-Intelligencer, which was founded in 1863, has had operating losses since 2000. The loss will probably widen this year from $14 million in 2008, said Hearst, which has owned the publication since 1921.

“Our losses have reached an unacceptable level,” Steven Swartz, president of Hearst’s newspaper unit, said in the statement today.

Hearst spokesman Paul Luthringer declined by telephone to specify what the company expects to receive for the newspaper or whether any potential buyers have expressed interest.

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer’s average paid weekday circulation was 117,572 as of Sept. 30, according to the Audit Bureau of Circulations. The cross-town rival Seattle Times had a weekday circulation of 198,741.

Hearst hired Bronxville, New York-based investment bank Broadwater & Associates LLC to help with the sale, Managing Director Robert Broadwater said in a telephone interview. He declined to specify how much Hearst was seeking for the Post- Intelligencer.

The Post-Intelligencer is under a joint operating agreement with the Seattle Times in which the latter arranges advertising, printing and distribution for both newspapers. Under terms of the agreement, the Times gets 60 percent of the combined revenue of the newspapers after excluding operating costs.

Frank Blethen, publisher of the Seattle Times, didn’t immediately return a telephone call seeking comment. The Times and Post-Intelligencer share a Sunday edition.

To contact the reporter on this story: Greg Bensinger in New York at gbensinger1@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: January 9, 2009 17:51 EST