Marc Benioff in talks to sell Time magazine to Greek media giant Antenna Group: report

Billionaire tech mogul Marc Benioff is reportedly in talks to sell Time magazine to a Greek media conglomerate.

Benioff, who co-founded enterprise software giant Salesforce and boasts a net worth estimated by the Bloomberg Billionaires Index at $10.7 billion as of Friday, has engaged Antenna Group in a deal for Time, according to CNBC.

Sources familiar with the discussions told CNBC that Benioff, who bought Time in 2018 for $190 million, was considering a $150 million offer from Antenna Group.

Benioff bought the magazine from Meredith Corp, which had owned the publication for less than a year.

Last month, Benioff expressed disappointment that Vice President Kamala Harris refused to sit down for an interview with Time.

Benioff criticized Harris while pointing out that former President Donald Trump and President Biden — before he left — both sat down for interviews during their campaigns.

“Despite multiple requests, TIME has not been granted an interview with Kamala Harris — unlike every other presidential candidate,” Benioff tweeted.

In September, Time raised eyebrows when it excluded Elon Musk from its list of the 100 most influential people in artificial intelligence.

Antena has been eager to enter the American media market. In 2022, she almost bought Vice Media before the company filed for bankruptcy.

Time, like other magazines, has struggled with continued declines in print advertising and newsstand sales.

At its peak between the 1970s and 1990s, Time’s circulation exceeded 4 million copies nationwide — beating out competitors like Newsweek and US News & World Report.

In 2012, Time had a circulation of 3.3 million. Today, its readers number about 1.6 million subscribers.

Started by Yale University graduates Henry Luce and Briton Hadden, Time first went on sale in March 1923.

Before Benioff bought the magazine, it was trying to transition to a digital strategy but was struggling.

Time has posted two straight years of annual losses and its revenue has fallen since it was spun off from Time Warner in 2014.