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Meredith Corporation is looking to unload several of the titles it picked up in its January acquisition of Time Inc. Time, Sports Illustrated, Fortune and Money are set to head for the auction block as Meredith looks to consolidate its focus on producing female-skewing lifestyle titles.
People, Entertainment Weekly, Real Simple, InStyle, Shape and Travel + Leisure, are all expected to remain under the Meredith umbrella.
Along with the four magazines, the company plans to shed a total of 1,200 employees, in addition to the 600 who have already been let go at Times Customer Service, Time Inc.’s former subscription fulfillment operation.
The moves are part of an overall effort by Meredith to reduce annual costs by $400 million to $500 million. The company also says that it will work to raise the advertising and circulation performance of the magazines it keeps to “industry norms,” while increasing profits from the Time Inc. digital properties to “Meredith’s levels.”
While Meredith CEO Tom Harty says the company has been pleased with the amount of interest that has been expressed in the titles, it made no comment about who the potential purchasers might be.
“These are attractive properties with strong consumer reach,” Harty said in a statement. “However, they have different target audiences and advertising bases, and we believe each brand is better suited for success with a new owner.”
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