Time Warner announced Wednesday that it would spin off its Time Inc. magazine unit into a separate, publicly traded company, Amy Chozick writes. The announcement came hours after negotiations on a possible merger between Meredith Corporation and many Time Inc. titles fell through. The deal did not work out in part because of Time Inc.’s concern about flagship titles Time, Sports Illustrated, Fortune and Money, which Meredith had decided not to pursue. Time Warner found it made more economic sense to spin off all its titles rather than retain a few of them, a person with knowledge of the negotiations said. Time Inc. is the nation’s largest magazine publisher, and the breakdown in talks threw into sharp relief how once-glamorous magazines have become troubled assets.
Facebook plans to announce a redesign to its News Feed, the page of cascading posts every user sees upon logging in, on Thursday, Somini Sengupta reports. The makeover is designed to keep users, many of whom are growing disenchanted with the social networking site, engaged, while also providing advertisers with new ways to appeal to consumers, with bigger photos and video. The adjustments will reflect Facebook’s precarious balance as a public company that has not performed well on Wall Street: draw users to the site without alienating them with the targeted advertisements that are Facebook’s chief source of revenue.
Google executives are working on a version 2.0 of an unusual advertising initiative to show how technology can be compatible with traditional Madison Avenue methods like emotional storytelling, Stuart Elliott writes. The initiative, called Art, Copy and Code, will start with a Volkswagen campaign designed by Deutsch L.A. (Adidas and Burberry will be involved later.) Volkswagen will offer a mobile app and Web service called Volkswagen Smileage that will allow drivers who use the new Google Plus sign-in program to share their smile-inducing driving experiences.
Content Partners, a financial boutique that buys cash flow owed to stars and musicians, said on Wednesday that it would buy the half of the long-running crime drama “C.S.I.” owned by an affiliate of Goldman Sachs, Michael Cieply and Bill Carter write. Terms were not disclosed, but it was reported that Goldman sought more than $400 million for their half of the franchise (CBS owns the other half). Content Partners will now own half of the production company revenue from old episodes, as they are sold abroad or through on-demand media, and from future episodes. The “C.S.I.” shows have been among the most profitable television properties for more than a decade; the firm Media Metrics reported that the original show was the most-watched program in the world for five of the last seven years.
Advertisements in a public education campaign by New York City that seeks to reduce teenage pregnancy have drawn mounting criticism, Kate Taylor reports. The ads, which have been placed in bus stands in neighborhoods with high teen pregnancy rates and will soon appear in subway stations, feature sad-looking children alongside slogans like “I’m twice as likely not to graduate high school because you had me as a teen.” Planned Parenthood denounced the ads, saying they stigmatized teen parents while ignoring the various factors that contribute to the issue. The mayor’s office responded that it had to send a strong message that teenage pregnancies often have powerfully negative consequences for the child and parent.
American cardinals who will vote in the conclave to elect the next Roman Catholic pope have run into a problem with addressing the media, Rachel Donadio and Laurie Goodstein write. Their American forthrightness conflicts with the Vatican, a secretive Italian institution more known for leaked information than news conferences. The tension is certain to be on the minds of the cardinals who, though they have been told to discredit reports in the media, may well be swayed by what they hear in the news. The College of Cardinals has agreed not to give interviews, even as news continues to leak to Italian outlets.
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