Crain Reports Time Inc. Could Sell Mags: What’s in Store for Essence?

Crain New York reports that media conglomerate Time Warner is considering selling its magazines, Time Inc.,  and that would include Essence. In an article written by Matthew Flamm (Time Warner Seen Mulling…), the corporation has been considering its financial options.

Figuring out what Time Inc. would be worth will be another challenge, but the key may not lie as much in the magazines as in the digital properties.

“The value will be enormously determined by what the digital media platforms are and how well they’ve been integrated into the magazines,” said Roland DaSilva, a managing partner of media investment banking firm DaSilva + Phillips. He added that Time Inc. might be a lot better off in an entrepreneurial setting with a lower cost structure.

A Time Warner spokesman declined to comment for Flamm.

Time Warner become a 49 percent partner of Essence in 2000. Time, Inc. absorbed full ownership of the black women’s lifestyle magazine in 2005.