TIME Magazine is headed to a new home only eight months after its acquisition by Meredith Corp. Marc Benioff, co-founder of Salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM) and his wife Lynne Benioff agreed to purchase the magazine for $190 million.
Several bastions of print media have changed hands in recent years. In 2013 Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN) founder and CEO Jeff Bezos acquired the Washington Post for $250 million. Lauren Powell Jobs, the widow of Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) founder Steve Jobs, also acquired a majority stake in the Atlantic magazine back in 2017. Old print media has struggled with declining sales as online alternatives are growing in popularity.
TIME magazine reduced its circulation to 2.3 million for the six-month period ending June 30 compared to three million in the prior year.
These establishment organs have moved swiftly to condemn social media companies for failing to stamp out alternative or "fake news", though this is done in the name of preventing "foreign meddling". This past year New York Times stock has thrived in large part due to more engagement after the election of U.S. President Donald Trump.
However, the newspaper also credited Facebook for altering its platform and diverting users to so-called "authoritative content", provided by outlets like the New York Times or Washington Post.
It remains to be seen whether old print media outlets can turn the corner in this new era.
