Time magazine is to be sold to Marc Benioff, co-founder of software platform Salesforce.com, and his wife Lynne in a $190m deal announced on September 16. In a note sent to the publication's staff on Sunday, Time editor Edward Felsenthal said: "From the first moments we sat down with Marc and Lynne to discuss Time's future, we knew that this was not just a meeting of minds and business goals, it was a confluence of purpose." As the Benioffs are buying the magazine as individuals, Time will not have any association with the Salesforce.com business. Time magazine is currently owned by media company Meredith. Just two months later, in an attempt to shed costly publications that did not fit with its existing print offering, Meredith put four Time publications up for sale. The trend was started in 2012 by Chris Hughes, co-founder of Facebook, when he purchased The New Republic for an estimated $2.1bn. However, Hughes sold the publication in 2016 after a disappointing tenure at the helm, during which time site traffic declined by nearly 40 percent. The challenge for new tech owners, including the Benioffs, will be to increase profitability and improve digital offerings while maintaining journalistic integrity. Read more