Meredith to sell Time brand to Benioffs

Meredith to sell Time brand to Benioffs

Meredith announced Sept. 16 that it has agreed to sell the Time media brand to Marc and Lynne Benioff for $190 million in cash. The transaction was expected to close within 30 days.

The Benioffs are purchasing Time personally and the transaction is unrelated to Salesforce.com, where Marc Benioff is chairman, co-CEO and founder. The Benioffs will not be involved in the day-to-day operations or journalistic decisions, which will continue to be led by Time’s current executive leadership team, according to Des Moines-based Meredith.

Time is a multimedia brand that reaches a combined audience of more than 100 million readers in print and online, including over 50 million digital visitors and 40 million social followers each month, according to Meredith.

“We’re pleased to have found such passionate buyers in Marc and Lynne Benioff for the Time brand,” said Meredith CEO Tom Harty.

Meredith acquired Time as part of its purchase of Time Inc., which closed on January 31, 2018. Shortly thereafter, Meredith announced it was selling Time Inc.’s news and sports brands: Time, Sports Illustrated, Fortune and Money. Meredith expects to announce agreements for the remaining asset sales in the near future.

As part of the transaction, Meredith will provide short-term business continuity services and has entered into a multi-year agreement with the Benioffs to provide services such as consumer marketing, subscription fulfillment, paper purchasing and printing. Meredith will also be able to include the Time brand in large corporate advertising buys.

Meredith plans to use proceeds from the transaction to pay down debt.

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