Media company Meredith Corp. is adding Time magazine to its magazine portfolio, but a major investment from the Koch brothers has some media critics wondering how their conservative leanings might affect the magazines' content.
Des Moines, Iowa-based Meredith, which publishes Better Homes & Gardens, is paying $1.84 billion in cash for Time Inc., which also owns Fortune, People and Sports Illustrated. Meredith, which two times previously tried to buy Time, is also refinancing $900 million of Time's debt for a value of $2.8 billion.
Some of the outlay comes courtesy of a $650 million investment from Koch Equity Development, part of the Wichita, Kan.-based conglomerate Koch Industries, controlled by Charles and David Koch.USAToday reports the brothers are well known for their generous support of conservative causes and political candidates — a fact that has some media observers questioning whether the Kochs plan to exert editorial influence over the news magazine that has occasionally been at odds with President Trump.
Emily Bell, the founding director of the Tow Center for Digital Journalism at Columbia's Graduate School of Journalism, tweeted:
Nobody, but nobody, buys news media properties *unless* it is to exercise some influence through or over them...not least because it usually makes little economic sense otherwise #Time #KochBrothers— emily bell (@emilybell) November 27, 2017
Meredith CEO and Chairman Steve Lacy said Koch Equity Development did not require a board seat for its $650 million investment. "Their desire to be passive," he said, "made the offer ... the most attractive."
Koch Equity Development additionally won't take part in editorial decisions, Meredith says.
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