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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