Meredith Corporation

Edwin Thomas Meredith founded the company in 1902 when he began publishing Successful Farming magazine.[2]

In 1922, Meredith began publishing Fruit, Garden and Home magazine, a home and family service publication.[2] In 1924, the magazine was retitled Better Homes and Gardens,[1][2] and the first issue cost a dime on the newsstand. In 1930, the company published the first edition of The Better Homes and Gardens Cook Book. In 1946, the company became a public company. It was listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 1965.[2]

In March 2012, Meredith acquired allrecipes.com from Reader's Digest Association for $175 million.[3][4] 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.[5][6]

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.[7][8]

In November 2014, Meredith acquired mywedding.com.[9][10] In January 2015, the company acquired Selectable Media.[11] Also in January 2015, Meredith acquired Shape, Natural Health and Fit Pregnancy from American Media Inc. Fitness magazine was folded into Shape, while retaining its website.[12]

On September 8, 2015, Media General announced its intent to acquire Meredith in a cash and stock deal valued at $2.4 billion.[13] Pending regulatory and shareholder approval, the deal was expected to be consummated in June 2016.[13] 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.[13] To comply with FCC ownership limits, the company would have divested and/or swapped stations in six markets.[13] Media General shareholders would have controlled 65% of the company, with Meredith shareholders holding 35%.[14] However, the offer was countered by Nexstar Broadcasting Group, who made a successful, $4.6 billion bid to acquire Media General instead.[15]

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.[16] On November 26, 2017, it was announced that Meredith Corporation would acquire Time Inc. in a $2.8 billion deal.[17] $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.[18][19]

On January 9, 2018, it was announced that Meredith would launch a Hungry Girl magazine on January 16, expanding from the online brand.[20]

On January 31, 2018, the company completed the acquisition of Time Inc.[21][22][23] 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.[24] Howard Milstein had announced on February 7, 2018, that he would acquire Golf Magazine from Meredith,[25] and Time Inc. UK was sold to the British private equity group Epiris (later rebranded to TI Media) in late February.[26] In September 2018, Meredith announced the sale of Time to Marc Benioff and his wife Lynne for $190 million.[27] In November 2018, Meredith announced the sale of Fortune to Thai businessman Chatchaval Jiaravanon, whose family owns Charoen Pokphand, for $150 million.[28][29] After failing to find a buyer for Money, Meredith in April 2019 announced that it would cease the magazine's print publication as of July 2019, but would invest in the brand's digital component Money.com.[30] In May, 2019, Meredith announced the sale of Sports Illustrated to Authentic Brands Group, for $110 million.[31]

Time Inc. Productions was renamed Four M Studios in May 2018. The studios is under Bruce Gersh, Meredith's president of People, Entertainment Weekly and People en Español and head of Four M Studios.[32]

In October 2019, Meredith Corporation sold the Money brand and website to Ad Practitioners LLC, a media and advertising company based in Puerto Rico.[33] Terms were not disclosed, but sources said the brand went for just over $20 million, that was more than the $10 million Meredith was seeking in early 2019.[34]

In November 2019 the company unloaded one more asset acquired in the Time Inc. acquisition, its 60% equity ownership of digital advertising company Viant Technology Holding Inc. that, among other assets, owns social networking site Myspace.[35] Also in November 2019, the company announced the launch of a new quarterly magazine, called Reveal, in January 2020 in collaboration with Drew and Jonathan Scott from HGTV's Property Brothers.[36][37]

Meredith magazines include the following brands:

Defunct magazines include

• Family Circle[38]
• Money (from Time Inc.)[39]
• More[40]
• Readymade
• Scrapbooks Etc.

• Allrecipes.com[41]
• mywedding.com[42]
• Myspace

The broadcasting division owns 15 television stations. Most of the company's stations are affiliated with CBS or Fox. 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.[43]

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.[44] The purchase of KMOV was completed on February 28, 2014,[45] while the KTVK sale was completed on June 19.[46]

Meredith has also struck deals to acquire ABC affiliate WGGB in Springfield, Massachusetts from Gormally Broadcasting for $53.8 million[47] and Fox affiliate WALA in Mobile, Alabama from LIN Media for $86 million.[48]

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 in 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.[49][50][51]

On May 2, 2019, reports were made suggesting that Meredith was planning to sell off its stations to focus on its core media properties, with Apollo Global Management (which reached a deal to acquire a majority stake in the Cox stations through a joint venture called Terrier Media on February 15 of that year) suggested to be the main frontrunner.[52]

• (**) indicates a station that was built and signed on by Meredith.
• (‡‡) indicates a station that was owned by First Media prior to its acquisition by Meredith in 1997.

Note:

• ¹ Between 2009 and 2017, Meredith operated WPCH through a local marketing agreement when the station was owned by Time Warner subsidiary Turner Broadcasting System.[53] On February 23, 2017, Meredith announced its intention to purchase the station from Time Warner prior to the latter's merging with AT&T.[54]

Notes:

• 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,[55] 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 Broadcasting for WGCL.

Time Inc. Productions

• People Magazine Investigates (Investigation Discovery)[24]
• The Mars Generation (Netflix) [59]
• The Making of SI Swimsuit 2017 (DirecTV Now)[59]
• Puppy Bowl: Where Are They Now (Animal Planet)[59]
• The Story of Diana (ABC) 2017 documentary miniseries, 2 nights 2 hours each[59]
• A Year in Space (PBS) Emmy-winning[32]
• Cultureshock (A&E) pop culture docuseries from Entertainment Weekly[60]
• 89 Blocks (Fox) East St. Louis high school football team documentary from Sports Illustrated, which was nominated for a Sports Emmy Award[60]

Time Inc. Productions/Four M Studios

• Sports Illustrated: True Crime pilot working title (Paramount Network) Jerry Bruckheimer TV[57]
• Entertainment Weekly: The Bullseye pilot(Paramount Network) Conveyor Media[57]

Four M Studios[32]

• Home (Apple) 10 one-hour episodes[60]
• People Magazine Investigates: Cults (Investigation Discovery)
• People Magazine Investigates: Crimes of Fashion (Investigation Discovery)
• The Story of the Royals (ABC) documentary miniseries