Time Inc plots a future beyond its heyday as suitors line up
Onstage at a recent industry conference with the longtime leaders of the country’s biggest magazine publishers, Rich Battista, the new chief executive of Time Inc, did not seem the outsider. Tieless, with legs crossed, he ticked off his company’s latest accomplishments — robust digital growth, updated advertising capabilities — with the swagger of a knowing publishing chieftain.
“There’s something really exciting happening at our company,” he said, echoing what had become something of a rallying cry at Time Inc. “We’re taking our brand to really exciting new places.”
A former television executive, Battista, 52, has been charged with revitalising the most storied magazine publisher in the country. At the helm of the nearly century-old Time Inc since September, he has quickly worked to transform the home of Time, People and Sports Illustrated into a multimedia, multipurpose company, with a strategy heavy on online video, television and entertainment — and noticeably lighter on magazine journalism.
Among the ideas the company has floated: Offering people paid services like a food-and-wine club and insurance for pets.
Battista’s zeal, however, may not be enough to save the Time empire, whose weekly publications helped propel the national conversation for decades but have struggled to maintain their relevance in the digital media environment.
Time Inc’s revenue has fallen every year since 2011, and investors have punished its stock since the company was spun off from Time Warner nearly three years ago. Brutal cost cuts and relentless executive churn have roiled the company.
Smelling blood, potential acquirers have been circling the company for months. And while the board has not yet decided whether to pursue a sale, it has asked suitors to submit formal bids by this week, according to two people briefed on the company’s plans. Five parties, including Meredith Corporation and an investor group led by Edgar Bronfman Jr and the media executive Ynon Kreiz, have expressed interest in buying the company in its entirety, the people said. Early last month, Time Inc filed an amended change-in-control severance plan with the Securities and Exchange Commission that protects bonuses for executives deemed most likely to be affected by a sale.
Time Inc rebuffed a takeover bid of at least $18 a share from Bronfman and Kreiz last year, and it could ultimately decide not to sell. The company is also considering bringing on an outside investor.
Battista and Jen Wong, 42, Time Inc’s new chief operating officer, maintain that they are committed to advancing their plans for the company.
During a recent interview at its new headquarters in downtown Manhattan, both insisted that Time was on solid footing despite its lackluster financial performance, and that it was done with any hand-wringing about what its strategy should be.
“Those things are behind us,” said Wong, a former executive of the website PopSugar. “We’re really focused on growth now.”
In a note to employees several weeks ago, Battista introduced an “innovation challenge” intended to “surface ideas for new revenue-generating products and services to offer our consumers.” The winning team will receive $10,000.
“Think of it,” he said, “as a Time Inc ‘Shark Tank.’”
Time Inc, with its portfolio of 22 magazine titles in the United States and 15 digital properties, has for years been a vastly different company from the one Henry R Luce founded in 1922.
Although the print business still brings in roughly two-thirds of the company’s $3 billion in annual revenue, focus has shifted toward other revenue opportunities, including short online videos and events.
The magazines share resources, and editors work with the business side, an idea that for much of the company’s history would have been anathema.