Media

Group in talks to buy Sports Illustrated, Fortune and Money

Sports Illustrated, Fortune and Money — the last former Time Inc. titles that Meredith is selling off — are said to be in final negotiations with a buyout group that includes billionaire Dan Gilbert and best-selling author and motivational speaker Tony Robbins, sources close to the situation told The Post.

The group is being assembled by Josh Pollack, from Los Angeles-based Velocity Entertainment, who had briefly worked as a developer on the nascent Sports Illustrated Films.

A deal for the last three was held up after talk that Mark and Lynne Benioff, who bought Time magazine for $190 million, were also interested in buying Fortune. But they ultimately only wanted Time in a deal expected to close in 30 days.

The buyout group is close to hammering out a deal for the remaining titles for an undisclosed price, but Meredith hoped to realize at least $500 million from the sale of the four titles.





It had put all four titles on the block in March.

One of the plans being considered would be to further cut the frequency of Sports Illustrated — the one-time weekly, which was cut back to 26 issues earlier this year. Plans being mulled include monthly frequency augmented with special issues, such as swimsuit and sports preview issues and others tied to events like the Super Bowl.





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