“A serious buyer is in talks with” Time Warner about buying most of its magazine properties, James Bandler, Doris Burke and Jennifer Reingold report in Fortune. The deal is in “a formative stage and may never come to fruition,” they write.
Meredith Corporation is the potential buyer, Amy Chozick reports in The New York Times.
The deal being discussed would allow Time Warner to hang onto three flagship magazines, Time, Fortune and Sports Illustrated, while selling the majority of its portfolio, including magazines like Real Simple, Entertainment Weekly, Cooking Light and InStyle. The titles, which amount to essentially a women’s magazine company, make a good fit for Meredith Corporation, based in Des Moines, Iowa, and the publisher of such titles as Better Homes and Gardens and Ladies’ Home Journal.
Time Inc. announced it would cut about 500 jobs at the end of January. News Corp. last June announced plans to spin off its publications into a new company, but they’re staying under the same corporate umbrella, which may affect any potential bids for newspapers in markets where the corporation already owns TV stations.
Previously: Time Inc. cuts about 500 staff, Time mag to lose 6.
