The sale of Time Inc. to Meredith Corporation, an Iowa-based lifestyle publisher that was long known to be in hot pursuit of its more cosmopolitan New York rival, is major news in its own right. Perhaps overshadowing this monumental acquisition of America’s most iconic magazine empire, however, is the fact that the $2.8 billion sale, announced Sunday night and expected to close in early 2018, was made possible by a $650 million injection—15 percent of the total financing package—from the private-equity arm of Koch Industries, an oil-soaked multi-national conglomerate run by stupendously wealthy Libertarian donors Charles and David Koch.

The involvement of the Kansas-bred Koch brothers, known for their munificent financial support of deeply conservative causes, think tanks, and politicians—and for their often combative relationship with the press—has been a red-hot topic in media circles ever since The New York Times first reported nearly two weeks ago that the Kochs were said to be backing Meredith’s third go at a Time Inc. takeover. Reactions within the journalism community have ranged from consternation about why on earth Koch Industries—which derives its fortune from the likes of petroleum, cattle, chemicals, and other decidedly unglamorous but highly lucrative goods and services—would want to get involved in an industry struggling so mightily with its own survival, to mild hysteria about the prospect of the Kochs trying to influence coverage at venerable publications like Time and Fortune, which have declined in relevance over the past decade, but remain substantial national media brands.

Representatives for Koch Industries emphasized to me and to other reporters that this is a “passive financial investment,” and one which “underscores,” in the words of Meredith’s announcement, “a strong belief in Meredith’s strength as a business operator, its strategies, and its ability to unlock significant value from the Time Inc. acquisition.” Koch Equity Development won’t get a seat on Meredith’s board of directors, and “will have no influence on Meredith’s editorial or managerial operations,” Meredith said in its press release. The company has also said that no one at Meredith has ever met with, spoken to, or communicated with Charles or David Koch individually, and that it chose K.E.D. in part because it proposed being a hands-off investor, as opposed to other private-equity players who insisted on board representation being part of the package.

But inside Time Inc., judging from the conversations I had with multiple company sources as they processed the news, the Kochs loom large in a constellation of anxieties that also includes mechanical concerns like layoffs, a potential Manhattan-meets-Midwest culture clash, and the fate of magazines—Time, Fortune, Sports Illustrated, and Entertainment Weekly—that will stand out like sore thumbs in a marriage that’s sure to find more harmony among soft titles like Meredith’s Better Homes & Gardens, Parents, Family Circle, and Midwest Living, and Time Inc.’s Real Simple, Southern Living, Cooking Light, and Food & Wine. Meredith was reportedly not interested in the weeklies during earlier talks about a Time Inc. acquisition, and sources told the Financial Times that Meredith would explore selling some of Time Inc.’s best-known titles, including Time and Sports Illustrated—a scenario that would theoretically ease some of the Koch jitters, assuming they themselves weren’t the acquirers. (People would presumably stay in the portfolio since it is Time Inc.’s cash cow.) In a funereal column for Bloomberg View, Time Inc. veteran Joe Nocera lamented, “I believe the Koch brothers’ promise not to get involved. I just don’t think Time magazine is going to be around much longer, at least not in a form its loyalists would recognize . . . There are already rumors that Meredith plans to shut down Time. My guess is that Fortune and Money”—a monthly—“are goners, too.”