In 2015, the media giant’s digital ad revenue totaled $331 million. The company is facing a decline in print ad dollars and it posted an $881 million loss past year. Circulation revenue also fell $10 million or 3 percent as newsstand sales were particularly hit.
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In all, Time reported a profit of $17 million, or 15 cents a share, down from earnings of $145 million, or $1.32, a year earlier. As part of that push, the publisher on Thursday said it would acquire data-driven marketing firm Viant Technology Inc. for an undisclosed amount. “But our primary goal all along was to return the company to revenue growth”.
Time booked a hefty amount of restructuring-related charges during the quarter, further pressuring its bottom line.
Time Inc.’s titles include LIFE, Sports Illustrated, Food & Wine, People, Fortune, and Marie Claire.
Yep, Myspace is back being owned by a traditional media company.
MySpace, which was acquired by News Corp. for $580 million and later sold for US$35 million, rebranded itself in 2012 as a music-centric online community.
Still, the acquisition announced today was not exactly about MySpace.
Over the past year, 94-year-old publisher Time Inc. has made several high-profile, digital-first acquisitions-including of HelloGiggles and xoJane-and now it’s added another: Viant Technology, the parent company of 12-year-old social network Myspace.
This acquisition is game changing for us.
CEO Joe Ripp alluded to such a buy just last week.
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In 2014, Viant launched Viant Advertising Cloud, a platform through which more than 1 billion global registered users share data about their households and devices. Time received $623 million in net proceeds from the sale of its Blue Fin Building in the UK.
