In the spring, after Meredith Corporation put four of its newly acquired magazines up for sale—Time, Fortune, Money, and Sports Illustrated—there was talk of buyers being locked down by the end of June. The hope was for a speedy resolution in delivering these legendary publications to their next stewards, whoever those may be. While these four were seen as the crown jewels of Time Inc., which Meredith bought in early 2018 following a years-long pursuit, it was Time Inc.’s softer commodities—InStyle, Real Simple, etc.—that Meredith was salivating over. Meredith’s main priority was to integrate the rest of the Time Inc. portfolio into its business operations; dealing with the titles it was destined to get rid of would only be a distraction. Meanwhile, for as long as those titles remained under Meredith’s purview, they would essentially be consigned to a state of purgatory. It was in everyone’s interest to fire up the term sheets as quickly as possible. READ MORE