UPDATED 21:26 EDT / SEPTEMBER 16 2018

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Salesforce co-founder Marc Benioff acquires Time Magazine for $190M

Following in the footsteps of Amazon.com Inc. founder Jeff Bezos’ acquisition of The Washington Post in 2013, Salesforce.com Inc. co-founder Marc Benioff along with his wife Lynne today said they’ve acquired Time Magazine from Meredith Corp. for $190 million.

According to Adweek, the acquisition is a personal one and is unrelated to the position Benioff (pictured) holds at Salesforce, the provider of cloud-based business software. The Benioffs will not be involved in the editorial operations of the magazine and the existing management team will be kept in place.

Notably, the deal only includes Time Magazine itself and does not include properties previously held by Time Inc., itself acquired by Meredith early this year, such as Fortune, Money and Sports Illustrated.

“We are honored to be the caretakers of one of the world’s most important media companies and iconic brands,” the Benioffs said in a statement Sunday. “Time has always been a trusted reflection of the state of the world, and reminds us that business is one of the greatest platforms for change.”

Time Magazine, along with its former sister publication Life, has a storied history. For many years after its launch in 1923, it was a leader in serious news and news photography, but like many companies in the print industry has fallen on hard times as the internet has come to dominate news.

The company ceased printing Life in 2007, but while Time itself has continued to be printed, it’s a much smaller publication than it once was.

The decision by Benioff to acquire the iconic magazine could be seen as courageous decision given that print is dying. But like the Bezos’s $250 millin acquisition of the Post, it may be more an act of corporate benevolence.

For Benioff, $190 million is small change from his $6.5 billion fortune, though his vow not to get involved in management may be short-lived. Although its financial under Meredith are not known, Time Inc., its former owner, was bleeding money as of 2017.

When Bezos acquired the Post, he promised not to interfere with its day-to-day running. But although he still arguably remains hands-off on the editorial side, that’s no longer the case with the newspaper’s operations. Bezos has guided the once-troubled paper to profitability, and at a time when print publications regularly lay off staff, the Post has been increasing its headcount and investing in journalism.

Presuming that Time isn’t in the best of financial positions, it would be remiss of Benioff, as the magazine’s new owner, not to get involved and indeed, that may have already started.

“One of the first challenges Marc and Lynne gave us is to think big, really big,” Time Editor-in-Chief Edward Felsenthal said in a memo to staff Sunday. “Beyond the five-year plan, what will TIME look like in 2040? What will it mean to people decades from now? That’s what we’ll all be thinking about as we create a new home for TIME rooted in what we know how to do so well, with the resources we need to reach our greatest potential as individuals and as a team, supported by owners with a sterling record of innovation and of building collaborative, creative cultures.”

Photo: WEF/Wikimedia Commons

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