• Home
  • Latest
  • Fortune 500
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia

Trendingnow

1

Pentagon accuses Alibaba, Baidu and BYD, three of China's biggest companies, of supporting the Chinese military

2

Analysts expected oil to surge above $200 but China has quietly kept prices half of that—and can’t for much longer

3

Costco CEO Ron Vachris rose from forklift driver to the C-suite without a college degree: ‘Don’t chase a title’ is the career advice that got him there

1

Pentagon accuses Alibaba, Baidu and BYD, three of China's biggest companies, of supporting the Chinese military

2

Analysts expected oil to surge above $200 but China has quietly kept prices half of that—and can’t for much longer

3

Costco CEO Ron Vachris rose from forklift driver to the C-suite without a college degree: ‘Don’t chase a title’ is the career advice that got him there
TechMedia

Time Inc. Said to Be Evaluating Takeover Interest, Partnerships

By
Mathew Ingram
Mathew Ingram
Down Arrow Button Icon
By
Mathew Ingram
Mathew Ingram
Down Arrow Button Icon
December 8, 2016, 6:15 PM ET
Time Inc.

After receiving an unsolicited takeover offer, magazine publisher Time Inc. has hired financial advisers to field potential bids for the company and investigate other strategic moves, according to a Wall Street Journal report.

Shares of the company, which owns a number of landmark titles including People, Sports Illustrated, and Fortune, climbed as much as 9% Thursday on the news that it has hired Morgan Stanley and Bank of America as financial advisers. That took the share price (TIME) to $17.75, its highest point in more than a year.

The Journal story said people “familiar with the matter” had confirmed that Time Inc. hired the banks to review proposals and that a sale or deal is not guaranteed. A Time Inc. spokesman wouldn’t confirm the report, saying the company doesn’t comment on speculation, and a Morgan Stanley spokesman also declined to provide a comment.

Last month, shares of the publishing giant soared as much as 17% after reports that it had received an unsolicited acquisition offer from a group including billionaire Edgar Bronfman Jr., the former CEO of Warner Music, and Ukrainian-born billionaire Len Blavatnik, who bought Warner Music in 2011. Israeli businessman and Warner Music board member Ynon Kreiz is also said to be part of the group.

Get Data Sheet, Fortune’s technology newsletter.

A report from Bloomberg at the time said that the acquisition offer for Time Inc. was for between $18 and $20 a share, or as much as $2 billion, a 37% premium to the trading price before the news broke.

Activist investment fund Jana Partners acquired a 5% stake in Time Inc. earlier this year, and the fund is said to be interested in pushing for either an improvement in the company’s financial picture or a sale. There were reports that pressure from Jana was behind the recent change of CEOs at Time, although the company’s former CEO denied that this was the case.

Some analysts believe that magazine publisher and TV station owner Meredith Corp.—whose titles include Family Circle and Better Homes and Gardens—might also be a potential bidder for Time Inc. Meredith was close to acquiring a number of magazines from Time Warner before the publishing part of the company was spun off.

Like many other print-based publishers, Time Inc. has been struggling with declining advertising revenue and a drop in subscriptions, even for some of its flagship titles. The company also still has a lot of debt on its books—$1.8 billion in total—following a spin-off from its parent company, Time Warner, in 2014.

While Time Inc’s digital audiences and online revenues have been growing steadily, they haven’t been enough to compensate for the ongoing decline in print. Even the Wall Street Journal and New York Times recently said that their print advertising revenue fell by about 20% in the latest quarter, and as a result both companies are looking at layoffs and restructuring.

In the most recent quarter, Time Inc. missed revenue targets after print advertising—which still accounts for about 65% of the company’s ad revenue—fell 10%. The publisher lost more than $112 million in the quarter, down from a loss of almost $1 billion a year earlier.

This is how YouTube is trying to become profitable:

Subscription revenue at Time Inc. also fell by more than 14.5% in the most recent quarter, and overall revenues dropped 3%. The company revised its projections for the full year downward and said it is now expecting either zero revenue growth or a 1% loss.

Former chief executive Joe Ripp, who took the helm of the company after it was spun off from Time Warner, stepped down in September after a health-related incident that he said made him re-evaluate his priorities. The new CEO, Rich Battista, is the former CEO of Mandalay Sports Media and a former Fox News executive.

Battista said in an interview when he took over the CEO role that he believes the “trusted, quality nature of our brands puts us ahead of some of our digital competitors.” Those competitors include BuzzFeed and Vice, both of which now have private-market valuations that are greater than that of the 93-year-old publisher, whose market value stands at $1.7 billion.

Time Inc. recently restructured its editorial ranks to try and improve digital efficiency between different publications. Instead of each magazine having its own web group, they have been consolidated into 10 topics such as food, beauty and entertainment, with two senior editors in charge.

Macquarie Capital analyst Tim Nollen told the New York Times after a recent Time Inc. re-organization that “there’s no evidence that they’ve turned things around. Anyone in this country would look at it as a magazine publisher that is struggling.”

Despite all that, however, the company appears to still have enough appeal to draw bids from investors like Bronfman, and possibly others as well. And now Time Inc. has formalized that process, which suggests it is serious about accepting offers.

Clarification, Dec. 8, 2016: The original headline of this article overstated Time Inc.’s interest in a sale. It is reviewing proposals, not soliciting them.

About the Author
By Mathew Ingram
See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon

Latest in Tech

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025

Most Popular

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Fortune Secondary Logo
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • World's Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
  • Lists Calendar
Sections
  • Finance
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Features
  • Leadership
  • Health
  • Commentary
  • Success
  • Retail
  • Mpw
  • Tech
  • Lifestyle
  • CEO Initiative
  • Asia
  • Politics
  • Conferences
  • Europe
  • Newsletters
  • Personal Finance
  • Environment
  • Magazine
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
  • Group Subscriptions
About Us
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • Facebook icon
  • Twitter icon
  • LinkedIn icon
  • Instagram icon
  • Pinterest icon

Latest in Tech

Meet the Fortune Crypto 100: A ranking of the very best companies in blockchain
CryptoCryptocurrency
Meet the Fortune Crypto 100: A ranking of the very best companies in blockchain
By Jeff John RobertsJune 11, 2026
1 hour ago
Fortune Crypto Innovators
CryptoFortune Crypto
Meet the Fortune Crypto Innovators
By FortuneJune 11, 2026
1 hour ago
South Korea fines Coupang record $409 million for data breach
AsiaCoupang
South Korea fines Coupang record $409 million for data breach
By Jaehyun Eom, Shinhye Kang and BloombergJune 11, 2026
3 hours ago
SpaceX’s record IPO has Wall Street torn between a Musk ‘holy grail’ and a $72-per-share leap of faith
Startups & VentureSpaceX
SpaceX’s record IPO has Wall Street torn between a Musk ‘holy grail’ and a $72-per-share leap of faith
By Marco Quiroz-GutierrezJune 11, 2026
3 hours ago
Bridgit Mendler speaks on stage at Fortune Brainstorm Tech 2026 in Aspen, Colorado.
Startups & VentureBrainstorm Tech
The space economy’s next frontier is in ground infrastructure, Northwood Space CEO says
By Sebastian HerreraJune 10, 2026
8 hours ago
Digital sovereignty isn’t the same thing as digital isolation. Asia’s governments should be careful
Commentarydata sovereignty
Digital sovereignty isn’t the same thing as digital isolation. Asia’s governments should be careful
By Leonard LimJune 10, 2026
13 hours ago

Most Popular

Pentagon accuses Alibaba, Baidu and BYD, three of China's biggest companies, of supporting the Chinese military
Asia
Pentagon accuses Alibaba, Baidu and BYD, three of China's biggest companies, of supporting the Chinese military
By Kate O'Keeffe and BloombergJune 8, 2026
2 days ago
Analysts expected oil to surge above $200 but China has quietly kept prices half of that—and can’t for much longer
Energy
Analysts expected oil to surge above $200 but China has quietly kept prices half of that—and can’t for much longer
By Sasha RogelbergJune 10, 2026
16 hours ago
Costco CEO Ron Vachris rose from forklift driver to the C-suite without a college degree: ‘Don’t chase a title’ is the career advice that got him there
Success
Costco CEO Ron Vachris rose from forklift driver to the C-suite without a college degree: ‘Don’t chase a title’ is the career advice that got him there
By Preston ForeJune 8, 2026
3 days ago
Current price of oil as of June 10, 2026
Personal Finance
Current price of oil as of June 10, 2026
By Joseph HostetlerJune 10, 2026
21 hours ago
Marc Lore’s robots make 500 burrito bowls an hour. A human can make 45
Innovation
Marc Lore’s robots make 500 burrito bowls an hour. A human can make 45
By Amanda GerutJune 9, 2026
1 day ago
A ‘MAGA Warrior’ Texas ag chief is publicly blasting the USDA over a flesh-eating pest threatening America's beef supply
North America
A ‘MAGA Warrior’ Texas ag chief is publicly blasting the USDA over a flesh-eating pest threatening America's beef supply
By Marco Quiroz-GutierrezJune 10, 2026
1 day ago

© 2026 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.