TLAS March 2018 Printable .Indd
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March 2018 The End. By Jeremy Main February 1, 2018 The end came quietly. No big speech- tablished, but the name “Meredith” does wanted to buy only the service and life-style es. No parties. On Thursday, February 1, not have the recognition of “Time.” magazines, such as Real Simple and InStyle, the Time Inc sign came down from the What happens now to the former but Time rebuffed the offer. glass façade of 225 Liberty Street and Time Inc. employees and magazines When Meredith came back in 2016, the Meredith sign went up. Inside the (brands)? Meredith has already said it will as Time’s decline steepened, they were building, Meredith chairman Steve Lacy take $400 million to $500 million out of after the whole company and with $650 and CEO Tom Hardy stood in the lobby the costs of the merged companies, es- million in backing from the Koch broth- greeting their new employees, the shaken pecially among duplicated management ers, the company was able to make an ac- survivors of Time Inc.’s last days. jobs. That presumably means more layoffs ceptable offer of $2.8 billion. Some com- The company that had stood astride and perhaps some closings. Time Inc. had mentators wondered about the role of the media world in what Henry Luce had already fired so many employees that Mer- the Koch brothers. Would they have any called “the American Century” was un- edith found enough empty space at 225 influence on the news magazines? Would able in the 21st Century to survive a series Liberty to accommodate Meredith’s New they take over any of them? Meredith says of management blunders and unable to York staff, located in midtown until now. the brothers will be passive investors. make its way profitably in the new digital Before the first week was out, Meredith Meredith’s inclinations remain the world. So the old farmer in Iowa absorbed announced it was closing Time’s Florida same as they were in 2013. Referring per- the city slicker in New York. fulfillment center, which employs 700 haps to the five magazines Meredith didn’t Meredith is smaller than Time Inc. people. Its functions will be taken over by want then, CEO Hardy said he will “con- (3,000 employees vs. 7,000, $1.65 billion Meredith’s own fulfillment center. Then duct a portfolio review of the combined in revenue in 2016 vs. $3 billion). But it agreed to sell Time UK and its 50-plus company’s media assets and divest those Time Inc was shrinking and Meredith, titles for something under $200 million to not core to our business which might be with its mixture of service magazines, dig- the Epiris fund. of more value to another operator.” ital offerings and TV stations, is growing. What about the magazines themselves? The decline of Time Inc. might be dat- So the Time logo, established in 1923 Before February 1, Time Inc. had already ed back to the closing of the weekly Life in and recognized around the world, disap- sold off Essence and Sunset. Golf is up for 1972. TV was taking over its role of show- pears. Meredith, established in 1902 but sale. Meredith has not said anything about ing the world to the American people and less known, takes over. Some observers the future of Time, Fortune, Money, Sports took the advertising with it. But that may wondered why Meredith would throw Illustrated or People. However, they don’t have been only a harbinger, because Time away such a famous name. Its magazines, fit well with Meredith, which has never been Inc. continued to be profitable. In fact, as such as Better Homes & Gardens and Good oriented towards the news. When Meredith late as 2000, the money poured in. Housekeeping, are well known and well-es- first approached Time Inc. in 2013 they It poured out too. Fortune, for ex- The New York Post follows the Time Inc. story closely and had this to say about TLAS: “One of the early casualties of the Time takeover by Meredith is the Time Life Alumni Society—the new owners have shut off the club funds, closed the office, and the corporate ID passes don’t work—The alumni members comprise some of the editorial titans in the storied history of the company. The group was so talent-rich that the guest speakers at their luncheons were usually drawn from the ranks of their top writers.” —Keith Kelly 1 Time Life Alumni Society ample, was making so much money in through five management teams. Mere- of the Meredith National Media Group. 2000 it took over a seaside resort on the dith CEO Hardy particularly criticized a The unsigned article said “we look for- Hawaiian island of Lanai and flew most decision two years ago to abolish the post ward to continuing the mission laid out of the staff there for an “off-site.” The of magazine publisher. Sales reps were by Time’s founders nearly a century ago: company’s famously extravagant expense required to offer the entire portfolio of to keep our readers well informed and to accounts were epitomized by Dick Clur- magazines, so customers faced an im- adapt to the news needs of a changing man, the chief of correspondents in the possibly complex set of choices among a world. Find out more about Meredith at 1950s and 1960s. He told Time’s long- score of titles. meredith.com.” time Jerusalem correspondent, Marlin Although there was no formal farewell There was a small storm during the Levin, “Don’t concern yourself with the to Time Inc., there was a somber gather- turnover. Meredith replaced the Time expense of getting the story. Use money ing on January 17, but it could hardly be logo with its own on the LinkedIn en- the way you would use typing paper.” called a party. A different cuisine as well tries for the Time Inc employees who had Clurman practiced what he preached. He as drinks were served on each of the six become Meredith employees. The action flew first-class (as we all did, then) and floors occupied by Time. Black baseball also changed the logos on some retirees’ bought two tickets for himself, to keep hats with the Time logo in white were is- entries, to their intense annoyance. One one seat free for his papers and to guard sued to everyone, presumably as a nod to of them, Tammy Berentson, former vice his privacy. But that era was long over. the women’s protests rather than a sign of president for consumer marketing at Peo- Staffers have flown tourist class for years mourning. Only current employees—as ple and Entertainment Weekly and now The decline was hastened by a series of that day—–and members of the TLAS an associate dean at Columbia University, of bad decisions. The first was the sale board and volunteer staff were invited. posted the following: “Dear LinkedIn, of Time Warner to AOL in 2000. At the One of them, Ralph Spielman, ob- please give me my old Time Inc. logo time it was the largest corporate merger served that the millennial staff members back! . .Meredith may have bought the ever, and it soon became the worst. It oc- were enjoying themselves, while the older company, but they did not buy my expe- curred at the height of the internet bub- TimeIncers were somber. He saw CEO rience, my memories, our history. Fix it!” ble, inflating the value of AOL beyond all Rich Battista and COO Jen Wong were It was fixed. reason. The bubble soon burst. AOL had together talking quietly. There were no Meredith immediately put the cur- to write off $99 billion and employees speeches, no reminiscences about what rent covers of the ex-Time Inc publica- and stockholders took heavy losses. Ted many of us consider to be the great days tions on its website, along with those of a Turner, Time Warner’s biggest stock- of Time. Later in the month TimeIncers score of their original publications If any holder, lost $8 billion, or 80% of his for- held an Irish wake at Rosy O’Grady’s in Time Inc. people move to Des Moines tune. Later, at a TLAS luncheon, Turner mid-town Manhattan. they will check in to four-story building opened his remarks with this greeting: Time magazine itself paid scant atten- with a colorful mural up one side of the “Hello, fellow suckers!” tion to the sale. In the fine print in the building and a huge (24-foot) bright red Other poor decisions followed. When small box that identifies the ownership gardening trowel planted in the lawn. It Time Inc. separated from Time Warner it of the magazine on the contents page, will be a change. carried with it a burden of $1.4 billion in “Meredith Corp.” replaced “Time Inc.” As the Meredith motto says: “Be debt that handcuffed the company. As the In the February 19 issue, Time reported Bold—Together .” company struggled in the 2010s to find in two sentences under the headline “A a way to reverse the decline, it burned New Era For Time” that it was now part January 17, 2018: Left to right; Barbara Orlando, Lillian Kelly, Frank Kelly, Connie Cosner, Eileen Miller and Raquel Rubin. —Photo: Al Freni The “Black Hat” Party 2 Time Life Alumni Society — What’s News — • Russ Adams (Books edit) has moved meets Tuesday evenings once or twice a material about Ford Denmark. One story from rural, “largely unpaved” Fort Valley, month ([email protected]).