Salesforce.com chief executive officer Marc Benioff and his wife, Lynne, are to buy storied US news magazine Time for US$190 million, a company statement said on Sunday.
“The Benioffs are purchasing Time personally and the transaction is unrelated to Salesforce.com, where Mr Benioff is chairman, co-CEO and founder,” according to a statement from the Meredith Corp, which is selling Time.
The Benioffs are not to be involved in operations or journalistic decisions, “which will continue to be led by Time’s current executive leadership team,” it said.
“The power of Time has always been in its unique storytelling of the people & issues that affect us all & connect us all,” Marc Benioff wrote on Twitter.
“A treasure trove of our history & culture. We have deep respect for their organization & are honored to be stewards of this iconic brand,” he added.
“On behalf of the entire Time team, we are very excited to begin this next chapter in our history,” magazine editor-in-chief Edward Felsenthal said in the statement.
“We can’t imagine better stewards for Time than Marc and Lynne Benioff. The team is inspired by their commitment to high-quality journalism and by their confidence in the work we have done to transform and expand the brand in new directions,” Felsenthal said.
Meredith announced in March that it was looking for a buyer for four magazines, including Time, Fortune and Sports Illustrated, which were bought less than four months ago.
Meredith has reached a “multi-year” agreement with the Benioffs “to provide services such as consumer marketing, subscription fulfillment, paper purchasing and printing,” it said.
By snatching up Time, Marc Benioff joins several other billionaires who have purchased storied publications, including Amazon.com Inc’s Jeff Bezos, the world’s wealthiest person, who bought the prestigious Washington Post newspaper in 2013.
The same year, John Henry, the billionaire owner of the Boston Red Sox, purchased the Boston Globe, while billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong (黃馨祥), who made a fortune in biotechnology, bought the Los Angeles Times in June.
Billionaire investor Warren Buffett has also purchased a series of newspapers in the past few years.
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