Publishing ‘rights’
Trump backer Mercer buys stake in Time Inc.
THERE is now more than one conservative booster of President Trump with a fancy for buying Time Inc. — and its 94-year-old flagship newsweekly, Time.
Robert Mercer’s Renaissance Technologies bought nearly 2.5 million shares of Time Inc. in the first quarter, according to a recent regulatory filing — a 2.51 percent stake valued on March 31 at $48.1 million. Mercer and daughter
Rebekah are big Trump supporters. In fact, the 70-year- old investor is said to be among the top 10 political donors in the country — in a league with former Mayor
Mike Bloomberg; casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, owner of the Las Vegas Review-Journal; and left-boosting George Soros.
Mercer is also a backer of Breitbart News, which was headed by Steve Bannon un
til he left to become an adviser to Trump.
His 43-year-old daughter, with her super wealth and experience running Make America Number One, a super PAC, and as part of the Trump transition team, was dubbed by Politico as the “most powerful woman in politics.”
The second Trump booster possibly eyeing Time Inc. is
David Pecker, who runs American Media, parent of National Enquirer. New Yorker writer Jeffrey
Toobin thinks Pecker is angling to buy Time Inc. — although the longtime publisher would seem to have much less financial firepower to back up such a purchase than Mercer.
Of course, Renaissance’s new stake in Time Inc. — also publisher of People, Fortune, Sports Illustrated and a large stable of other titles — could be a passive, long-term investment.
The publisher in late April, after weighing unsolicited bids, said it intended to stay independent.
Its shares closed on Monday at $14.45 — down 25 percent since March 31. Renaissance officials could not be reached for comment.
Latina layoffs
Latina Media Ventures, publisher of Latina magazine and Latin Kitchen, a Web site, laid off six of 30 employees on Friday as the struggling properties scramble to make payroll.
Insiders, without a paycheck for nearly a month, got paid on June 30 for the pay pe- riod ended June 15, they said.
Pay for the June 30 period is still owed, the insiders said.
“We are committed to our employees, and people will get paid,”
Robyn Moreno, the newly installed co-president of LMV — owned by Solera Capital, a private equity firm — told Media Ink on Monday.
Insiders remain skeptical.
“Everyone is shell-shocked and outraged,” said one source. Also feeling LMV’s financial pain are its free-lancers. Some are said to be owed money on invoices submitted six months ago — with some due more than $10,000.
Brett Wright, who resigned as LMV president on June 14 at about the time the publisher said it would miss the June 15 payroll, was replaced late last week by two co-presidents: Moreno and
Asten Morgan. They were promoted on Thursday.
“This is a vibrant brand, and we have a dedicated partner in Solera,” Moreno said on Monday. “We are committed to getting everyone paid” — full-timer employees and free-lancers.”
Moreno declined to comment on Friday’s layoffs.
Solera counts among its past credits a major gain when its Annie’s Organic was sold to General Mills for $820 million in the fall of 2014 — reaping a $500 million-plus gain.