The founder and chief executive of Salesforce, Marc Benioff, and his wife Lynne Benioff have agreed to buy Time Magazine from Meredith for $190 million.
The Benioffs said they will hold the magazine as a family investment, Time’s Editor-in-Chief Edward Felsenthal wrote in a memo to staffers of the publication.
“It will have no connection to Salesforce, the software company Marc founded in 1999,” Felsenthal said.
“While they will not be operators of the business, we are extremely fortunate to have Marc and Lynne’s guidance and mentorship as we set out to build a new company.”
The deal, which was first reported on by The Wall Street Journal, is expected to close in the next 30 days.
In a tweet Sunday night, Marc Benioff said he and Lynn were “honored to be stewards of this iconic brand.”
“The power of Time has always been in its unique story telling of the people and issues that affect us all and connect us all,” Benioff said.
Meredith acquired Time Inc. last November and announced it would sell off some titles that were not a good fit with its portfolio. It confirmed plans for a sale in March.
The company is planning to sell Fortune, Money, and Sports Illustrated. A spokesperson said deals for those were expected to be announced in the “near future.”
With the purchase, the Benioffs join fellow tech billionaires Jeff Bezos and Laurene Powell Jobs in acquiring iconic media properties. Amazon founder Bezos purchased The Washington Post for $250 million in 2013, and Jobs, the widow of Apple founder Steve Jobs, purchased a majority stake in The Atlantic magazine last year.
“As almost everyone knows, Time is a treasure trove of our history and culture,” Benioff said in an email to CNN Sunday night. “We have deep respect for their entire organization, and are honored to now have Time as part of our family impact investment portfolio.”
Time was founded in 1922.
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