美国媒体公司拟收购并分拆时代公司

Meredith Corporation is exploring a break-up of Time Inc that would include shedding some of its best-known titles, including Time magazine and Sports Illustrated, once it acquires the 95-year-old publisher in a $2.8bn deal unveiled yesterday.

根据昨日宣布的28亿美元交易，Meredith Corporation将收购已有95年历史的出版商时代公司(Time Inc)。一旦完成该交易，Meredith将探索分拆时代公司，包括剥离其旗下最知名的一些品牌，如《时代》杂志和《体育画报》(Sports Illustrated)。

People briefed about Meredith’s plans said there would also be “significant jobs cuts” at Time Inc after the companies are combined as part of a cost-cutting plan reached with the Koch brothers, the conservative US billionaires who are minority investors in the takeover.

据了解Meredith这一计划的人士表示，在两家公司合并后，时代公司将“大量裁员”。这是与科赫兄弟(Koch brothers)达成的成本削减计划的一部分，这对保守的美国亿万富翁是此次收购的少数投资者。

Among those who have expressed interest in Time assets in recent months are David Pecker, publisher of the National Enquirer tabloid and a close ally of President Donald Trump; a team including Seagram scion Edgar Bronfman Jr and Len Blavatnik, the billionaire former owner of Warner Music Group; and Jimmy Finkelstein, owner of the political publication The Hill.

最近几个月对时代资产表现出兴趣的人还有小报《国家问询报》(National Enquirer)的出版人、美国总统唐纳德•特朗普(Donald Trump)的亲密盟友戴维•派克(David Pecker);Seagram后人小埃德加•布朗夫曼(Edgar Bronfman Jr)与前华纳音乐集团(Warner Music Group)所有者、亿万富翁莱恩•布拉瓦特尼克(Len Blavatnik)组成的团队;以及政治刊物《国会山报》(The Hill)的所有者吉米•芬克尔斯坦(Jimmy Finkelstein)。

Although Charles and David Koch, who backed the deal with $650m in preferred equity, will not have any editorial or operational influence on Meredith’s titles or seats on its board, the cost-cutting plan is part of a strategy to work with the publisher to ensure they get a good return on their investment, a person close to the family said.

查尔斯•科赫(Charles Koch)和大卫•科赫(David Koch)以6.5亿美元优先股的形式参与了这笔交易。据一位熟悉科赫家族的人士表示，虽然他们不会对Meredith的出版物或董事会席位有任何采编或运营影响力，但成本削减计划是与该出版商合作的战略的一部分，以确保他们获得良好的投资回报。

“For them [the Koch brothers] this is a smart bet, a pure financial investment. They don’t want to run magazines but they agreed to back the deal because Meredith has shown them a sound plan that includes significant job cuts,” said one of the people briefed on Meredith’s takeover strategy.

一位了解Meredith收购战略的人士表示：“对于他们(科赫兄弟)来说，这是一个明智的赌注，一笔纯粹的金融投资。他们不想经营杂志，但他们同意支持这笔交易，因为Meredith向他们展示了一个包括大量裁员在内的稳妥计划。”

Steve Lombardo, a spokesman for Koch Industries, described the investment as “passive”, adding: “We’re basically acting as a bank here.”

科氏工业集团(Koch Industries)发言人史蒂夫•伦巴多(Steve Lombardo)称，这是一笔“被动的”投资，并表示：“我们基本上在其中起到一家银行的作用。”