- A year since Salesforce billionaire Marc Benioff and his wife Lynne bought Time, they've started to make subtle marks on the iconic publication.
- The purchase has enabled the title to go on a hiring spree, adding more than 100 people.
- Time employees said the Benioffs have mostly stayed hands-off in day-to-day operations.
- But in regular meetings with executives, they've given guidance on everything from events to marketing strategy.
- Time execs also are now using Salesforce's "V2MOM," its strategic planning tool, as they plot Time's future.
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It's been a year since Salesforce founder Marc Benioff and his wife Lynne bought Time. And while the couple seem to be hands off day to day, employees said the Benioffs have made some subtle marks on the iconic newsweekly.
The Benioffs are among a crop of billionaire owners that have scooped up iconic but struggling publications, from The Washington Post to the Los Angeles Times to The Boston Globe, raising questions about what their motivations are and what kinds of stewards they'll be.
Time languished under Time Warner and then Meredith Corp., where Time had to compete with sibling publications for resources and deal with the quarterly earnings pressure that comes with being part of a public company.
Once a title that generated $100 million in profits, it has been barely profitable in recent years and its business has been in decline for years.
Yet the Benioffs paid a whopping $190 million for it, which is on the high end of recent similar transactions. In announcing the purchase, Marc Benioff referred to Time's "unique storytelling of the people and issues that affect us all and connect us all" and as a "treasure trove of our history and culture."
The Benioffs provided a statement to Business Insider on their purchase, saying: "We are proud to be the owner of Time. As stewards of this trusted, iconic brand - we see an incredible opportunity for growth, innovation, and impact. We are fueling Time with investment and strategic guidance, and we have high expectations for the future of the company."
Former Bloomberg Media CRO Keith Grossman, who was hired last year as president, said he asked the couple why they bought Time. "They felt like it gives them a rational, centrist perspective on the world," he told Business Insider in a wide-ranging interview. "He wants it to be around the next 100 years."
"Anyone who thinks it's a billionaire's trophy is wrong," he added. "He just said he wants it to run as a responsible business."
Time has been on a hiring spree under the Benioffs
The Benioff largesse has helped Time rebuild the infrastructure it lost when it became independent. It's also enabled Time to hire more than 100 people since the sale, for a total of 267 part and full-timers; rebuild its servers; and create a new video studio.
The Benioffs' involvement has been compared to the hands-off approach Jeff Bezos has taken with The Washington Post - they're in regular contact with executives, mostly though conference calls, where they give "advice and inspiration," but aren't day-to-day operators.
When executives said they wanted to turn the Time 100 gala into a summit the following year, the Benioffs encouraged them not to wait and do it that same year - even though the event was only a couple months off.
"I said to Marc and Lynne in February 2019, 'We've always wanted to expand the Time 100 from a list, so I thought this year we'd announce a summit in 2020,'" CEO and editor in chief Edward Felsenthal said. "They said, 'Why not do it this year?'"
On April 3, Time announced its first Time 100 summit, a day-long, star-studded event featuring the likes of Nancy Pelosi, Tim Cook, and Jared Kushner.
The Benioffs are getting Time to think of the "customer journey"
Another area they've had impact is in getting Time to think about the "customer journey." At Marc Benioff's suggestion, Time started collecting the emails of people who vote on the Time's annual Person of the Year so it could send them other things, like a first look at cover stories and top stories of the week.
The Benioffs have given a lot of money to health causes, an interest that has extended to Time. Health was the first vertical Time has expanded, starting with a Time 100-style summit. They talked about how to promote health-related products to people who subscribe to Time's health newsletter.
"They're both very committed to the world of health care - where do you take the brand next," Felsenthal said.
Lynne Benioff, meanwhile, had ideas on how to promote Time's forthcoming traveling exhibit on civil rights called The March.
Time staff say the Benioffs have steered clear of editorial
There are other Benioff touches. After the sale, it moved out into slick new offices covered in blond wood in Salesforce's building near New York's Bryant Park. Executives are using Salesforce's "V2MOM," its planning tool that stands for vision, values, methods, obstacles, and measures.
"He invests, he provides great guidance - he likes to know how you think about things," Grossman said.
But Time employees said the Benioffs, after making an appearance at the office after the sale, have mostly been hands-off.
"They're not operators; there's zero involvement in editorial," Felsenthal said.
That's the impression among members of Time's editorial staff as well.
"They're saying the right things," said one, who asked not to be identified. "The Benioffs talk a lot about trust being one of Time's highest values. It's ours as well."