Magazine publisher and broadcaster Meredith Corporation will acquire Time Inc., the publisher of Time, People, Sports Illustrated, Fortune and more, for $2.8 billion thanks to financing from the Koch brothers' private equity branch Koch Equity Development (KED), Meredith announced in a statement on Sunday night. But a closer look reveals the $650 million provided to Meredith for the deal simply acts as LBO—or leveraged buyout—financing. In fact, Meredith abandoned a deal to buy Time Inc. earlier this year because it could not secure enough financing. The Koch brothers started with similar deals in early 2016, with KED providing a $750 million preferred investment to private equity firm Apollo Global Management for purchasing home security systems company ADT. The Koch brothers could use both Meredith and Time Inc.'s valuable consumer insights to further the mission of their data analytics company i360, which acts as a trove of voter information for the Republican National Committee and conservative candidates.

Source: Forbes November 27, 2017 03:52 UTC