Meredith Corporation

Meredith Corporation
Public
Traded as NYSE: MDP
S&P 400 Component
Industry Media
Founded 1902 (1902)
Founder Edwin T. Meredith
Headquarters Des Moines, Iowa
Key people
 Steve Lacy
(Executive Chairman)
Tom Harty
(President and CEO)
Products Newspapers
Magazines
Television
Educational Services
Websites
Revenue US$1.6 billion (2016)[1]
Number of employees
 3,600 (2016)[1]
Divisions National Media
Local Media
Website meredith.com

Meredith Corporation is an American media conglomerate based in Des Moines, Iowa, USA. The company has two divisions: National Media and Local Media. As of 2016, the company employed 12,600 people and had US$1.6 billion in revenues. As of 2018, they are the largest magazine company in the world (after its buyout of Time Inc.[2]).

History

Former logo from 1960s to 2009

Edwin Thomas Meredith founded the company in 1902 when he began publishing Successful Farming magazine. In 1922, Meredith began publishing Fruit, Garden and Home magazine, a home and family service publication. Two years later, this magazine was retitled Better Homes and Gardens,[3][4] and the first issue cost a dime on the newsstand. In 1930, they published the first edition of The Better Homes and Gardens Cook Book. By 1928, the company had combined circulations of 2.5 million.

The company went public in 1946 and was first listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 1965. Following its initial public offering, Meredith began acquiring television stations, a strategy it has continued over the decades.[5]

Recently, Meredith has introduced numerous other female-oriented consumer brands and has expanded its reach, through acquisitions and strategic partnerships, to become the leading media and marketing company serving the adult female audience in the United States. The company has extended its media and marketing platform around the globe, through acquisitions and strategic licensing relationships. In recent years, Meredith has acquired allrecipes.com from Reader's Digest Association,[6] mywedding.com.,[7] Selectable Media,[8] and Shape, Natural Health and Fit Pregnancy from American Media Inc.[9]

In February 2013, Meredith and Time Warner held discussions on a possible purchase of Time Inc.; Time Warner at the time elected to spin it out as a separate company instead.[10][11].

On September 8, 2015, Media General announced its intent to acquire Meredith in a cash and stock deal valued at $2.4 billion. Pending regulatory and shareholder approval, the deal was expected to be consummated in June 2016. The combined company would have operated under the name Meredith Media General, and be the third-largest owner of television stations in the United States—serving an estimated 30% of households. To comply with FCC ownership limits, the company would have divested and/or swapped stations in six markets. Media General shareholders would have controlled 65% of the company, with Meredith shareholders holding 35%.[12] However, the offer was countered by Nexstar Broadcasting Group, who made a successful, $4.6 billion bid to acquire Media General instead.[13]

In February 2017, it was reported that Meredith and a group of investors led by Edgar Bronfman Jr. were considering another possible purchase of Time Inc.[14] On November 26, 2017, it was announced that Meredith Corporation would acquire Time Inc. in a $2.8 billion deal. $640 million in backing was provided by Koch Equity Development, but the Koch family would not have a board seat or otherwise influence the company's operations.[15][16]

On January 9, 2018, it was announced that Meredith would launch a Hungry Girl magazine on January 16, expanding from the online brand.[17]

The Time Inc. acquisition was completed on January 31, 2018.[18][19][20] In March 2018, only six weeks after the closure of the deal, Meredith announced that it would lay off 200 employees, up to 1,000 more over the next 10 months, and explore the sale of Fortune, Money, Sports Illustrated, and Time. Meredith felt that, despite their "strong consumer reach," these brands did not align with its core lifestyle properties.[21] Howard Milstein had announced on February 7, 2018, that he would acquire Golf Magazine from Meredith, and Time Inc. UK was sold to the British private equity group Epiris.[22][23] In September 2018, Meredith announced the sale of Time to Marc Benioff and his wife Lynne for $190 million.[24]

Divisions

National media

Magazines

Meredith magazines include the following brands:[25]

Defunct magazines include:

Digital media

Local media

The broadcasting division owns 15 television stations. Meredith's broadcasting division also produces Better, which was originally conceived as a brand extension of BH&G. Since its inception in 2007 the show has placed an increasing emphasis on celebrity interviews and music performances. There are also cooking demonstrations and regular features on health, beauty, fitness and fashion. The program currently airs on 80 stations nationwide.[28]

On December 23, 2013, Meredith announced plans to buy St. Louis CBS affiliate KMOV and Phoenix independent station KTVK for $407.5 million in cash from Gannett Company and Sander Media, LLC to satisfy a federal mandate that Gannett sell KMOV.[29] The purchase of KMOV was completed on February 28, 2014,[30] while the KTVK sale was completed on June 19.[31]

Meredith has also struck deals to acquire ABC affiliate WGGB in Springfield, Massachusetts from Gormally Broadcasting for $53.8 million[32] and Fox affiliate WALA in Mobile, Alabama from LIN Media for $86 million.[33]

Following the 2018 announcement that Cox Media Group was looking to divest its 14 stations, Meredith was mentioned as a leading candidate to purchase the Cox stations. Such an acquisition would require minimal divestiture (only Atlanta do the two companies overlap), and would also mark a return to Seattle, Pittsburgh, and Orlando where Meredith previously owned stations, though none of the former Meredith stations in those markets are currently owned by Cox.[34][35][36]

Current Meredith-owned stations

City of license / Market Station Channel
TV (RF)		 Owned since Network affiliation
Mobile WALA-TV 10 (9) 2014 Fox
Phoenix KPHO-TV 5 (17) 1952 CBS
KTVK 3 (24) 2014 Independent
Hartford - New Haven WFSB 3 (33) 1997 CBS
Atlanta[37] WGCL-TV 46 (19) 1999 CBS
WPCH-TV 17 (20) 2017 1 Independent
Springfield, Massachusetts WSHM-LD
(semi-satellite of WFSB)		 3 (21) 2004 CBS
WGGB-TV 40 (40) 2014 ABC
Fox (DT2)
Bay City - Flint - Saginaw, MI WNEM-TV 5 (22) 1969 CBS
MyNetworkTV (DT2)
Kansas City, Missouri KCTV 5 (24) 1953 CBS
KSMO-TV 62 (47) 2005 MyNetworkTV
St. Louis KMOV 4 (24) 2014 CBS
MyNetworkTV (DT3)
Henderson - Las Vegas, NV KVVU-TV 5 (9) 1985 Fox
Portland, OR - Vancouver, WA KPTV 12 (12) 2002 Fox
KPDX 49 (30) 1997 MyNetworkTV
Bend, Oregon KUBN-LD
(semi-satellite of KPDX)		 43 (43) 2006 MyNetworkTV
Greenville - Spartanburg - Asheville WHNS 21 (21) 1997 Fox
Nashville WSMV-TV 4 (19) 1995 NBC

Note:

Former Meredith-owned stations

City of license / Market Station Channel
TV (RF)		 Years owned Current ownership status
Phoenix KASW 61 (49) 1 The CW affiliate owned by Nexstar Media Group
Fresno KSEE 24 (38) 1984–1993 NBC affiliate owned by Nexstar Media Group
Ocala - Gainesville, FL WOGX
(semi-satellite of WOFL)		 51 (31) 1996–2002 Fox owned-and-operated (O&O)
Orlando - Daytona Beach WOFL 35 (22) 1983–2002 Fox owned-and-operated (O&O)
WCPX-TV 6 (26) 1997 2 CBS affiliate, WKMG-TV, owned by Graham Media Group
Omaha WOW-TV 6 (22) 1951–1975 NBC affiliate, WOWT, owned by Gray Television
Syracuse, New York WHEN-TV/WTVH ** 5 (47) 1948–1993 CBS affiliate owned by Granite Broadcasting
(operated under an SSA by Sinclair Broadcast Group)
Bend, Oregon KFXO-LD 39 (39) 1997–2007 Fox affiliate owned by News-Press & Gazette Company
Pittsburgh WPGH-TV 53 (43) 1978–1986 Fox affiliate owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group
Cleveland - Chattanooga, TN WFLI-TV 53 (42) 2004–2008 The CW affiliate owned by MPS Media
(operated under SSA by New Age Media)
Seattle-Tacoma KCPQ-TV 13 1998–1999 3 Fox affiliate owned by Tribune Broadcasting

Notes:

  • (**) WHEN-TV/WTVH was the only station that was built and signed-on by Meredith.
  • 1 Owned by SagamoreHill Broadcasting, Meredith operated KASW under a shared services agreement.
  • 2 WCPX was acquired along with KPDX and WHNS when Meredith bought their parent company First Media,[39] but the station was swapped to Post-Newsweek Stations (former name of Graham Media Group) for WFSB a day later. Meredith never held control of the station.
  • 3 Acquired solely to be traded to Tribune for WGCL.

Radio stations

AM Stations FM Stations
City of License/Market Station/Frequency Years owned Current ownership status
Phoenix KPHO-910
(now KGME)		 1952–1972 iHeartMedia, Inc.
Kansas City, Missouri KCMO-710
(KCMO is now at 810 AM;
710 AM is now WHB)		 1953–1983 Cumulus Media
KCMO-FM-94.9 1953–1983 Cumulus Media
Omaha WOW-590
(now KXSP)		 1951–1983 E.W. Scripps Company
WOW-FM-92.3
(now KEZO-FM)		 1951–1983 E.W. Scripps Company
Syracuse, New York WHEN-620 1954–1976 iHeartMedia
Bridgeport, Michigan WNEM-1250
(now WJMK)		 2004–2013 Ave Maria Communications

Business deals

Meredith Corporation has, through acquisitions and strategic partnerships, transformed the company into a "360 degree" media and marketing powerhouse serving the largest audience of female adults of any media company in the United States. John S. Zieser, Chief Development Officer, has led the company on these business activities, from the acquisition of the Parents, Family Circle and Fitness brands from European media conglomerate Bertelsmann in 2005, to the more recent acquisition of several digital and mobile companies which led to expansion of Meredith's high growth "business-to-business" Integrated Marketing division, to large strategic licensing relationships with Walmart and Realogy relating to the Better Homes and Gardens brand. John Zieser also leads and manages the acceleration of Meredith's consumer brands overseas, through over 35 licensing partnerships with leading media partners around the globe.

In March 2012, Meredith completed the acquisition of allrecipes.com from Reader's Digest Association for $175 million.[40][41]

In October 2014, Meredith announced a 10-year licensing agreement with Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia to acquire the rights to Martha Stewart Living, Martha Stewart Weddings and marthastewart.com.[42][43]

In November 2014, a month after inking the licensing deal with Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Meredith acquired mywedding.com.[7]

In November 2017, Meredith Corporation acquired Time Inc., combining to boast 135 Million readers.[44] The acquisition was finalised on January 31, 2018.[2]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "Meredith Corporation 2016 Annual Report Form (10-K)" (PDF). Meredith. United States Securities and Exchange Commission. June 30, 2016. Retrieved August 8, 2017.
  2. 1 2 "Meredith Corporation Announces Completion Of Time Inc. Acquisition And Reports Fiscal 2018 Second Quarter And First Half Results".
  3. ↑ "Miller Center of Public Affairs University of Virginia". American President Woodrow Wilson/Edwin T. Meredith Secretary of Agriculture. Archived from the original on December 17, 2010. Retrieved December 12, 2010.
  4. ↑ "NNDB". Edwin T. Meredith. Retrieved December 12, 2010.
  5. ↑ "History of Meredith Corporation – FundingUniverse". www.fundinguniverse.com.
  6. ↑ "Meredith Significantly Increases Its Digital Scale With Acquisition of Allrecipes.com, World's Top Food Website, From Reader's Digest Association (NYSE:MDP)". ir.meredith.com. Archived from the original on 2015-09-12. Retrieved 2015-08-25.
  7. 1 2 "Meredith Adds To Growing Presence In Wedding Marketplace With Acquisition Of Rapidly Growing Mywedding.com Brand (NYSE:MDP)". ir.meredith.com. Archived from the original on 2015-09-12. Retrieved 2015-08-25.
  8. ↑ "Meredith Expands Digital Capabilities With Acquisition Of Selectable Media". PR Newswire. January 6, 2015. Retrieved January 7, 2015.
  9. ↑ Bill Mickey (2015-01-28). "Meredith Buys Shape From AMI for $60 Million". Folio:. Retrieved 2015-03-09.
  10. ↑ Steigrad, Alexandra (February 5, 2014). "Time Inc. Lays Out Restructuring". WWD. Retrieved February 5, 2014.
  11. ↑ Lauria, Peter (February 13, 2013). "Time Warner in talks with Meredith on magazines: source". Reuters. Retrieved February 20, 2013.
  12. ↑ "Media General to Buy Meredith Corp. for $2.4 Billion". The Wall Street Journal. September 8, 2015. Retrieved September 8, 2015.
  13. ↑ Lieberman, David (2017-01-11). "FCC Approves Nexstar's $4.6B Acquisition Of Media General". Deadline. Retrieved 2018-04-21.
  14. ↑ A. Trachtenberg, Jeffrey (February 7, 2017). "Meredith, Bronfman Move Forward in Effort to Acquire Time Inc". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved February 8, 2017.
  15. ↑ Nyren, Erin; Littleton, Cynthia (November 26, 2017). "Meredith Corp. Acquires Time Inc. in $2.8 Billion Koch Brothers-Backed Deal". Variety. Retrieved November 27, 2017.
  16. ↑ Ember, Sydney; Ross, Andrew (November 26, 2017). "Time Inc. Sells Itself to Meredith Corp., Backed by Koch Brothers". The New York Times. Retrieved November 27, 2017.
  17. ↑ Hardy, Kevin (January 9, 2018). "Meredith launches new Hungry Girl magazine". Des Moines Register. Retrieved January 15, 2018.
  18. ↑ "Meredith Corporation Announces Completion Of Time Inc. Acquisition And Reports Fiscal 2018 Second Quarter And First Half Results" (Press release). Meredith Corporation. January 31, 2018. Retrieved February 10, 2018.
  19. ↑ Hays, Kali (February 1, 2018). "Time Inc., Now Meredith and More Changes to Come". Women's Wear Daily. Retrieved February 10, 2018.
  20. ↑ Gold, Howard R. (February 1, 2018). "Who killed Time Inc.?". Columbia Journalism Review. Retrieved February 10, 2018.
  21. ↑ Spangler, Todd (2018-03-21). "Meredith Laying Off 1,200, Will Explore Sale of Time, SI, Fortune and Money Brands". Variety. Retrieved 2018-03-22.
  22. ↑ "Banker shells out big bucks to buy Golf Magazine". New York Post. 2018-02-08. Retrieved 2018-03-22.
  23. ↑ Sweney, Mark (2018-02-26). "Marie Claire publisher Time Inc UK sold to private equity group". the Guardian. Retrieved 2018-03-22.
  24. ↑ "Marc and Lynne Benioff will buy Times magazine from Meredith for $190M". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2018-09-17.
  25. ↑ Spangler, Todd (2018-03-21). "Meredith Laying Off 1,200, Will Explore Sale of Time, SI, Fortune and Money Brands". Variety. Retrieved 2018-03-22.
  26. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2015-01-28. Retrieved 2015-08-25.
  27. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2015-09-12. Retrieved 2015-08-25.
  28. ↑ Pursell, Chris (January 2008). "Meredith Speeds Up 'Better' Rollout". TV Week. Retrieved January 19, 2011.
  29. ↑ Meredith to Expand TV Portfolio with Deal to Add Stations in Phoenix, St. Louis, Meredith press release, December 23, 2013.
  30. ↑ Brown, Lisa (February 28, 2014). "Meredith Corp. closes on $177 million purchase of KMOV". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Retrieved February 28, 2014.
  31. ↑ Gannett-Sander Complete Phoenix Sale, TVNewsCheck, Retrieved 19 June 2014.
  32. ↑ Malone, Michael (19 June 2014). "Meredith to Acquire WGGB Springfield, Mass". Broadcasting & Cable. Retrieved 9 September 2014.
  33. ↑ Staff. "Media General, LIN Sell Stations In 5 Markets".
  34. ↑ https://www.ftvlive.com/sqsp-test/2018/7/24/this-is-the-good-news-for-cox-employees
  35. ↑ https://www.multichannel.com/news/cox-enterprises-mulls-selling-14-tv-stations
  36. ↑ https://www.ftvlive.com/sqsp-test/2018/7/27/meredith-scripps-could-make-a-play-for-cox
  37. 1 2 Swartz, Kristi E. (January 18, 2011). "Parent of CBS Atlanta to take over operations of Peachtree TV". Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Retrieved January 18, 2011.
  38. ↑ Rodney Ho (February 23, 2017). "Meredith purchases Peachtree TV from Time Warner/Turner Broadcasting System". Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Cox Enterprises. Retrieved February 25, 2017.
  39. ↑ "Meredith To Purchase Channel 6".
  40. ↑ "Meredith Completes Acquisition of Allrecipes.com From Reader's Digest (NYSE:MDP)". ir.meredith.com. Archived from the original on 2015-01-28. Retrieved 2015-08-25.
  41. ↑ Rubin, Ben Fox. "Meredith to Buy AllRecipes.com". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2015-08-25.
  42. ↑ Haughney, Christine (2014-10-15). "Martha Stewart's Magazines to Outsource Business Side to Meredith". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2015-08-25.
  43. ↑ Trachtenberg, Jeffrey A. "Martha Stewart Magazines to Be Licensed to Meredith Corp". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2015-08-25.
  44. ↑ "Meredith Acquires Time, Inc And Gains Scale: 135M Combined Readers". https://www.mediapost.com. Retrieved 2017-11-28. External link in |website= (help)

Further reading

  • Brown, Kathi Ann (2002). Meredith: the first 100 years. ISBN 978-0-696-21668-8.
  • Pendergast, Sara (2006). "Meredith Corporation". International Directory of Company Histories. Retrieved 2018-05-13 – via Encyclopedia.com.
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