Meredith sells Time magazine to Salesforce chief for US$190 mln

September 17, 2018 09:30

Marc Benioff, the billionaire founder of Salesforce.com is acquiring Time magazine in his personal capacity. Photo: Bloomberg

Meredith Corp has entered into an agreement to sell Time magazine to billionaire Marc Benioff and his wife for US$190 million in cash, disposing of the storied media brand in less than a year after acquiring it.

The Benioffs were purchasing Time in their personal capacity, and the transaction has nothing to do with Salesforce.com, where Marc Benioff is chairman, co-chief executive and founder, Reuters reports, citing a Meredith announcement.

Marc and Lynne Benioff 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 the announcement.

As part of the transaction, Meredith will provide short-term business continuity services, entering into a multi-year agreement with the Benioffs to provide services such as consumer marketing, subscription fulfillment, paper purchasing and printing.

Meredith plans to use proceeds from the transaction to pay down debt and expects to reduce its debt by US$1 billion during fiscal 2019.

Meredith acquired Time in a deal valued at US$2.8 billion as part of its purchase of Time Inc in January, shortly after which announced it was selling Time Inc’s news and sports brands.

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