Meredith Corporation

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Meredith Corporation
TypePublic
NYSE: MDP
S&P 600 Component
IndustryMass media
Founded1902; 119 years ago (1902)
FounderEdwin T. Meredith
HeadquartersDes Moines, Iowa
Key people
  • Steve Lacy
  • (Executive Chairman)
  • Tom Harty
  • (President and CEO)
Products
RevenueDecrease $810.5 million (FY December 2019)
Decrease $37.8 million (FY December 2019)
Total assetsIncrease $6.727 billion (FY 2018)
Total equityIncrease $1.097 billion (FY 2018)
Number of employees
7,915 (2018)
Websitewww.meredith.com
Footnotes / references
[1]
Former logo from 1960s to 2009

Meredith Corporation is an American media conglomerate based in Des Moines, Iowa. The company owns magazines, television stations, websites, and radio stations. Meredith's publications have a readership of more than 120 million, paid circulation of more than 40 million, and its websites have nearly 135 million monthly unique visitors. Meredith's broadcast television stations reach 11% of U.S. households.[1]

History[]

Early years[]

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.

In 1994, Meredith and CBS struck an agreement to renew its Kansas City station and affiliate two of the Bay City and Phoenix stations with the network.[3]

Since 2012[]

In March 2012, Meredith acquired allrecipes.com from Reader's Digest Association for $175 million.[4][5] 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.[6][7]

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.[8][9]

In November 2014, Meredith acquired mywedding.com.[10][11] In January 2015, the company acquired Selectable Media.[12] 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.[13]

On September 8, 2015, Media General announced its intent to acquire Meredith in a cash and stock deal valued at $2.4 billion.[14] Pending regulatory and shareholder approval, the deal was expected to be consummated in June 2016.[14] 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.[14] To comply with FCC ownership limits, the company would have divested and/or swapped stations in six markets.[14] Media General shareholders would have controlled 65% of the company, with Meredith shareholders holding 35%.[15] However, the offer was countered by Nexstar Broadcasting Group, who made a successful, $4.6 billion bid to acquire Media General instead.[16]

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.[17] On November 26, 2017, it was announced that Meredith Corporation would acquire Time Inc. in a $2.8 billion deal.[18] $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.[19][20]

On January 9, 2018, it was announced that Meredith would launch a Hungry Girl magazine on January 16, expanding from the online brand.[21]

On January 31, 2018, the company completed the acquisition of Time Inc.[22][23][24] 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.[25] Howard Milstein had announced on February 7, 2018, that he would acquire Golf Magazine from Meredith,[26] and Time Inc. UK was sold to the British private equity group Epiris (later rebranded to TI Media) in late February.[27] In September 2018, Meredith announced the sale of Time to Marc Benioff and his wife Lynne for $190 million.[28] In November 2018, Meredith announced the sale of Fortune to Thai businessman Chatchaval Jiaravanon, whose family owns Charoen Pokphand, for $150 million.[29][30] 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.[31] In May 2019, Meredith announced the sale of Sports Illustrated to Authentic Brands Group, for $110 million.[32]

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.[33]

In October 2019, Meredith Corporation sold the Money brand and website to Ad Practitioners LLC, a media and advertising company based in Puerto Rico.[34] 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.[35]

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.[36] 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.[37][38]

On May 3, 2021, Meredith announced an agreement with Gray Television for the latter to acquire Meredith's television division. The transaction will be structured as a spin-off of a new Meredith Corporation, containing the magazines division, to existing shareholders, to be immediately followed by the old Meredith (by then consisting solely of its TV stations group) being acquired by Gray for $2.7 billion in cash.[39]

Divisions[]

National media[]

Magazines[]

Meredith magazines include the following brands:

Defunct magazines include

Digital media[]

Local media[]

The broadcasting division owns 15 television stations. Most of the company's stations are affiliated with CBS or Fox. Meredith's broadcasting division also produced Better from 2007 until 2015, 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 were also cooking demonstrations and regular features on health, beauty, fitness and fashion. Local versions of the concept continue to air on Meredith stations.[45]

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.[46][third-party source needed] The purchase of KMOV was completed on February 28, 2014,[47] while the KTVK sale was completed on June 19.[48]

Meredith has also struck deals to acquire ABC affiliate WGGB in Springfield, Massachusetts from Gormally Broadcasting for $53.8 million[49] and Fox affiliate WALA in Mobile, Alabama from LIN Media for $86 million.[50]

Current Meredith-owned stations[]

  • (**) 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.
City of license / Market Station Channel
TV (RF) 		Owned since Network affiliation
Mobile, Alabama WALA-TV 10 (9) 2014 Fox
Phoenix, Arizona KPHO-TV 5 (17) 1952 CBS
KTVK 3 (24) 2014 Independent
Hartford - New Haven, Connecticut WFSB 3 (36) 1997 CBS
Atlanta, Georgia WGCL-TV 46 (19) 1999 CBS
WPCH-TV 17 (31) 2017 1 Independent
Springfield, Massachusetts WSHM-LD
(Semi-satellite of WFSB) 		3 (20) 2004 CBS
WGGB-TV 40 (26) 2014 ABC
Fox/MyNetworkTV (DT2)
Bay City - Flint - Saginaw, Michigan WNEM-TV 5 (30) 1969 CBS
MyNetworkTV (DT2)
Kansas City, Missouri KCTV 5 (24) 1953 CBS
KSMO-TV 62 (32) 2005 MyNetworkTV
St. Louis, Missouri KMOV 4 (24) 2014 CBS
MyNetworkTV (DT3)
Henderson - Las Vegas, Nevada KVVU-TV 5 (9) 1985 Fox
Portland, Oregon - Vancouver, Washington KPTV 12 (12) 2002 Fox
KPDX ‡‡ 49 (30) 1997 MyNetworkTV
Bend, Oregon KUBN-LD
(Semi-satellite of KPDX) 		43 (9) 2006 MyNetworkTV
Greenville - Spartanburg, South Carolina WHNS ‡‡ 21 (17) 1997 Fox
Nashville, Tennessee WSMV-TV 4 (10) 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 the E. W. Scripps Company
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 13 1998–1999 3 Fox owned-and-operated (O&O)

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,[53] 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.

Radio stations[]

AM Stations FM Stations
City of License/Market Station/Frequency Years owned Current ownership status
Phoenix KPHO 910 1952–1972 KGME, owned by iHeartMedia
Kansas City, Missouri KCMO 810 1953–1983 WHB, owned by Union Broadcasting
(KCMO is now at 710 AM)
KCMO-FM 94.9 1953–1983 owned by Cumulus Media
Omaha WOW 590 1951–1983 KXSP, owned by SummitMedia
WOW-FM 92.3 1951–1983 KEZO-FM, owned by SummitMedia
Syracuse, New York WHEN 620 1954–1976 owned by iHeartMedia
Bridgeport, Michigan WNEM 1250 2004–2013 WJMK, owned by Northern States Broadcasting

Four M Studios[]

Four M Studios (Four M), formerly Time Inc. Productions, is Meredith's in-house production company and is under the oversight of Bruce Gersh, Meredith's president of People, Entertainment Weekly and People en Español.[33]

After attempting a few TV shows in 2014 and 2015, the company formed Time Inc. Productions in 2016 as its in-house production company.[54] The company launched its free, ad-supported online video service PeopleTV in 2016 which got a pay TV deal by May 2018 with FuboTV. In November 2017, the company launched its first over-the-top subscription service, Sports Illustrated TV, available via Amazon Channels.[33] On October 30, 2017, the company announced that Paramount Network were partnering on two TV show pilots.[55]

Time Inc. Productions was renamed Four M Studios in May 2018. Four M would expand from the Time titles to all Meredith titles and to freestanding lifestyle shows and scripted shows. Four M also announced at that time a deal with Freeform TV channel to develop Meredith magazine stories, including People’s “Heroes Among Us” franchise, into telefilms.[33]

Four M Studios partnered with Imagine Entertainment's Imagine Kids & Family division. Its first project from the partnership is LIFE for Kids, a children's TV show using LIFE Magazine’s photo archive.[56]

Production library[]

Time Inc. Productions
  • People Magazine Investigates (Investigation Discovery)[25]
  • The Mars Generation (Netflix) [57]
  • The Making of SI Swimsuit 2017 (DirecTV Now)[57]
  • Puppy Bowl: Where Are They Now (Animal Planet)[57]
  • The Story of Diana (ABC) 2017 documentary miniseries, 2 nights 2 hours each[57]
  • A Year in Space (PBS) Emmy-winning[33]
  • Cultureshock (A&E) pop culture docuseries from Entertainment Weekly[58]
  • 89 Blocks (Fox) East St. Louis high school football team documentary from Sports Illustrated, which was nominated for a Sports Emmy Award[58]
Time Inc. Productions/Four M Studios
Four M Studios[33]
  • Home (Apple) 10 one-hour episodes[58]
  • People Magazine Investigates: Cults (Investigation Discovery)
  • People Magazine Investigates: Crimes of Fashion (Investigation Discovery)
  • The Story of the Royals (ABC) documentary miniseries

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b c "Meredith Corporation FY 2018 Form 10-K Annual Report". U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b c "Timeline: Meredith Corp. history". The Des Moines Register. September 8, 2015.
  3. ^ "Meredith Shifts Stations to CBS." The New York Times 30 June 1994; p6
  4. ^ "Meredith Completes Acquisition of Allrecipes.com From Reader's Digest" (Press release). PR Newswire. March 1, 2012.
  5. ^ Rubin, Ben Fox (January 24, 2012). "Meredith to Buy AllRecipes.com". The Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660.
  6. ^ Steigrad, Alexandra (February 5, 2014). "Time Inc. Lays Out Restructuring". WWD. Retrieved February 5, 2014.
  7. ^ Lauria, Peter (February 13, 2013). "Time Warner in talks with Meredith on magazines: source". Reuters. Retrieved February 20, 2013.
  8. ^ Haughney, Christine (October 15, 2014). "Martha Stewart's Magazines to Outsource Business Side to Meredith". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331.
  9. ^ Trachtenberg, Jeffrey A. (October 15, 2014). "Martha Stewart Magazines to Be Licensed to Meredith Corp". The Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660.
  10. ^ "Meredith Adds To Growing Presence In Wedding Marketplace With Acquisition Of Rapidly Growing Mywedding.com Brand" (Press release). PR Newswire. November 17, 2014.
  11. ^ O'Shea, Chris (November 17, 2014). "Meredith Buys Mywedding.com". AdWeek.
  12. ^ "Meredith Expands Digital Capabilities With Acquisition Of Selectable Media" (Press release). PR Newswire. January 6, 2015.
  13. ^ Bill Mickey (January 28, 2015). "Meredith Buys Shape From AMI for $60 Million". Folio. Retrieved March 9, 2015.
  14. ^ Jump up to: a b c d "Media General to Acquire Meredith Corp. in $2.4B Deal to Create TV Station Giant". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved October 29, 2019.
  15. ^ "Media General to Buy Meredith Corp. for $2.4 Billion". The Wall Street Journal. September 8, 2015. Retrieved September 8, 2015.
  16. ^ Lieberman, David (January 11, 2017). "FCC Approves Nexstar's $4.6B Acquisition Of Media General". Deadline. Retrieved April 21, 2018.
  17. ^ A. Trachtenberg, Jeffrey (February 7, 2017). "Meredith, Bronfman Move Forward in Effort to Acquire Time Inc". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved February 8, 2017.
  18. ^ Danner, Chas (November 26, 2017). "Meredith, Backed by Koch Brothers, Acquires Time Inc. for $2.8 Billion". Intelligencer. Retrieved October 29, 2019.
  19. ^ 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.
  20. ^ 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.
  21. ^ Hardy, Kevin (January 9, 2018). "Meredith launches new Hungry Girl magazine". Des Moines Register. Retrieved January 15, 2018.
  22. ^ "Meredith Corporation Announces Completion Of Time Inc. Acquisition And Reports Fiscal 2018 Second Quarter And First Half Results" (Press release). PR Newswire. January 31, 2018.
  23. ^ Hays, Kali (February 1, 2018). "Time Inc., Now Meredith and More Changes to Come". Women's Wear Daily. Retrieved February 10, 2018.
  24. ^ Gold, Howard R. (February 1, 2018). "Who killed Time Inc.?". Columbia Journalism Review. Retrieved February 10, 2018.
  25. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h i Spangler, Todd (March 21, 2018). "Meredith Laying Off 1,200, Will Explore Sale of Time, SI, Fortune and Money Brands". Variety. Archived from the original on April 26, 2021. Retrieved May 17, 2021.
  26. ^ "Banker shells out big bucks to buy Golf Magazine". New York Post. February 8, 2018. Retrieved March 22, 2018.
  27. ^ Sweney, Mark (February 26, 2018). "Marie Claire publisher Time Inc UK sold to private equity group". the Guardian. Retrieved March 22, 2018.
  28. ^ "Marc and Lynne Benioff will buy Times magazine from Meredith for $190M". TechCrunch. Retrieved September 17, 2018.
  29. ^ NUSCA, ANDREW (November 9, 2018). "FORTUNE Sells to Thai Businessman for $150 Million". Fortune.
  30. ^ Hauser, Christine; Lee, Edmund (November 9, 2018). "Fortune Magazine Sold to Thai Businessman for $150 Million". The New York Times.
  31. ^ "Money Magazine Is No Longer for Sale, and It's Going Digital Only". www.adweek.com. Retrieved April 26, 2019.
  32. ^ "Meredith Corporation Announces Sale of Sports Illustrated to ABG for $110 million". May 27, 2019.
  33. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f Otterson, Joe (May 15, 2018). "Time Inc. Productions Rebrands as Four M Studios (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Retrieved November 9, 2018.
  34. ^ "Meredith Sells Money Magazine Brand, Nearly Two Years After Time Inc. Merger". Folio. October 22, 2019. Retrieved October 23, 2019.
  35. ^ "Meredith sells Money.com to former Google exec's startup". New York Post. October 22, 2019. Retrieved October 23, 2019.
  36. ^ Jett, Tyler. "Meredith Corporation sells stake in MySpace owner". Des Moines Register. Retrieved November 22, 2019.
  37. ^ Corporation, Meredith. "Meredith Corporation And Drew And Jonathan Scott Of HGTV's Property Brothers Name New Magazine, Reveal". www.prnewswire.com. Retrieved November 22, 2019.
  38. ^ "'Property Brothers' Stars Drew and Jonathan Scott Name New Meredith Magazine 'Reveal'". TheWrap. November 20, 2019. Retrieved February 21, 2020.
  39. ^ Cynthia Littleton (May 3, 2021). "Gray Television to Acquire Meredith TV Stations for $2.7 Billion". Variety.
  40. ^ Dale, Martin (September 28, 2014). "Emilio Alcalde, Krishna Mahon, A+E Networks Latin America, on Brazil's Pay TV Market". Variety. Retrieved February 13, 2019.
  41. ^ Porter, Sierra. "Meredith Corp. sells Money website to Puerto Rico media and advertising company". Des Moines Register. Retrieved December 18, 2019.
  42. ^ Patane, Matthew. "Meredith ceasing More magazine publication". Des Moines Register. Retrieved December 18, 2019.
  43. ^ "Meredith Completes Acquisition of Allrecipes.com From Reader's Digest". March 1, 2012. Archived from the original on January 28, 2015. Retrieved August 25, 2015.
  44. ^ "Meredith Adds To Growing Presence In Wedding Marketplace With Acquisition Of Rapidly Growing Mywedding.com Brand". November 17, 2014. Archived from the original on September 12, 2015. Retrieved August 25, 2015.
  45. ^ Pursell, Chris (January 2008). "Meredith Speeds Up 'Better' Rollout". TV Week. Archived from the original on July 15, 2009. Retrieved January 19, 2011.
  46. ^ "Meredith to Expand TV Portfolio with Deal to Add Stations in Phoenix, St. Louis" (Press release). PR Newswire. December 23, 2013.
  47. ^ Brown, Lisa (February 28, 2014). "Meredith Corp. closes on $177 million purchase of KMOV". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Retrieved February 28, 2014.
  48. ^ Gannett-Sander Complete Phoenix Sale, TVNewsCheck, Retrieved June 19, 2014.
  49. ^ Malone, Michael (June 19, 2014). "Meredith to Acquire WGGB Springfield, Mass". Broadcasting & Cable. Retrieved September 9, 2014.
  50. ^ Staff. "Media General, LIN Sell Stations In 5 Markets".
  51. ^ Swartz, Kristi E. (January 18, 2011). "Parent of CBS Atlanta to take over operations of Peachtree TV". Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Retrieved January 18, 2011.
  52. ^ Rodney Ho (February 23, 2017). "Meredith purchases Peachtree TV from Time Warner/Turner Broadcasting System". Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Retrieved February 25, 2017.
  53. ^ "Meredith To Purchase Channel 6".
  54. ^ Applefeld Olson, Cathy (January 11, 2018). "At Time Inc. Productions, It's All About the Brands - Cynopsis Media". Cynopsis Media. Retrieved November 9, 2018.
  55. ^ Jump up to: a b c "Paramount Network, Time Inc. Productions Announce Collaboration". TVWeek. October 30, 2017. Retrieved November 9, 2018.
  56. ^ Sippell, Margeaux (January 16, 2019). "TV Roundup: Syfy Drops First Trailer for Season 2 of 'Happy!'". Variety. Retrieved September 23, 2019.
  57. ^ Jump up to: a b c d Stanhope, Kate (February 13, 2017). "Princess Diana Documentary in the Works at ABC". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved November 9, 2018.
  58. ^ Jump up to: a b c Alcinii, Daniele (August 9, 2018). "Bruce Gersh on Four M Studios' unscripted strategy". Realscreen. Retrieved November 10, 2018.

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 May 13, 2018 – via Encyclopedia.com.

External links[]

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