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The History of TIME Magazine: From Weekly News to Independent Media

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In November 2018, Meredith Corporation completed the $190 million sale of the TIME media brand to Marc and Lynne Benioff. Once the founding publication of Time Inc., TIME was now changing hands separately from the much larger publishing business that had developed around it.

It was a striking turn for a magazine that Briton Hadden and Henry R. Luce had launched as a compact weekly digest in 1923. The publisher grew into a diversified enterprise, merged with Warner Communications and was later spun off. Yet the magazine’s editorial identity continued, even as the business around it changed.

Under its current private ownership, TIME has extended its journalism into film and television, events, licensing, and digital products. The history of the magazine is therefore also the story of how its familiar editorial identity continued through changing formats and corporate structures.

A Quick Look at the History of TIME

Company History Summary

TIME is an American newsmagazine founded by Briton Hadden and Henry R. Luce, with its first issue dated March 3, 1923. Known for its covers and Person of the Year franchise, it became the original title of Time Inc., a publisher later absorbed into Time Warner and spun off in 2014.

Meredith bought Time Inc. in 2018 and later sold the TIME brand to the Benioffs. The privately owned business now publishes print and digital journalism alongside video production, events, and commercial partnerships.

Company Snapshot

Founded: March 3, 1923 (first magazine issue; preparatory work began in 1922).

Founders: Briton Hadden and Henry R. Luce.

Founding Location: New York City, United States.

Original Product: A compact weekly newsmagazine summarizing major developments by subject.

Industry: News publishing and multiplatform media.

Ownership: Privately owned by Marc and Lynne Benioff, who personally acquired the TIME media brand in 2018; Salesforce was not the buyer.

Leadership: Jessica Sibley, chief executive officer; Sam Jacobs, editor in chief; Edward Felsenthal, executive chairman (TIME masthead, October 10, 2026).

Notable Editorial Features: Person of the Year and TIME100.

Current Activities: Print and digital journalism, TIME Studios, events, partnerships, licensing, and digital products.

Two Founders and the Idea of a Weekly News Digest

Hadden and Luce had known each other through school and newspaper work before developing their magazine venture. In February 1922, their preparatory operation had an office in New York. The planned publication was initially called Facts, but it was launched as TIME with an issue dated March 3, 1923.

The format addressed a particular reading problem: news appeared in daily papers and longer publications, but following a full week’s developments required time and attention. Hadden and Luce organized significant events into a short, subject-based digest. Their distinctive contribution was the packaging and selection of news into a shorter weekly account.

Short summaries, distinctive language and a focus on people helped establish the magazine’s editorial voice. The inaugural cover featured Joseph G. Cannon, a former speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives. The choice anticipated the person-centered presentation that would become a TIME hallmark.

The two founders alternated editorial and business responsibilities in the early years. Hadden played a particularly important role in developing the magazine’s voice, while Luce would later lead the much larger publishing enterprise.

The Red Border, Person of the Year, and a Loss at the Top

In January 1927, TIME adopted the red border that became one of its most recognizable visual features. The frame remained consistent as the people and events on the cover changed.

Another durable editorial feature began with the choice of aviator Charles Lindbergh as the 1927 Man of the Year. The selection was for 1927, although the issue presenting it appeared in January 1928. TIME later referred to the feature as Person of the Year. The selection concerns influence on events, not necessarily approval of the person chosen.

TIME has described as a legend the often-repeated story that editors created Man of the Year to make up for previously overlooking Lindbergh as a cover subject.

Hadden died on February 27, 1929, at the age of 31. Luce subsequently emerged as the central figure of Time Inc., leading the business through an expansion that would place TIME alongside other major magazine titles.

Henry Luce Builds a Broader Publishing Enterprise

TIME had established a newsmagazine formula, but Time Inc.’s publishing activities soon extended beyond it. Under Luce, Time Inc. launched Fortune in 1930 and Life in 1936. Fortune addressed business, while Life developed a photojournalism-oriented format. These were separate magazines produced by the publisher, not editions of TIME.

With Fortune and Life in its portfolio, Time Inc. became a wider publishing operation rather than a business centered entirely on TIME. The individual magazines had distinct subjects, even as they shared a publisher under Luce’s leadership.

Luce’s influence extended beyond business management. In 1941, he published “The American Century” in Life, advocating a larger international role for the United States. Historian Alan Brinkley has also examined instances in which Luce sought to shape coverage of issues important to him, including China and foreign policy. His political commitments affected aspects of the publishing enterprise’s editorial outlook.

Luce died in 1967. TIME remained the original newsmagazine within a publisher that also served readers through other editorial formats and titles.

From a Magazine Publisher to Time Warner

Time Inc. and Warner Communications announced a merger in 1989 and completed it on January 10, 1990. The combination placed TIME within the larger Time Warner group without ending the magazine’s separate editorial identity.

Under Time Warner, TIME continued its prominent covers and recurring editorial features. In 1994, one cover prompted particular scrutiny after the magazine published a digitally altered police photograph of O.J. Simpson.

The 1994 Cover Controversy

The altered image made Simpson appear darker. Critics argued that this treatment reinforced harmful racial stereotypes. Managing editor James R. Gaines expressed regret that the cover had caused offense, while denying that TIME or the artist had intended a racial implication.

The episode illustrates the scrutiny attached to a publication known for image-led covers. A visual decision made by the magazine’s editors could become a public controversy of its own, apart from the underlying news event.

A New Annual Editorial Franchise

In 2004, TIME introduced the recurring annual TIME100 list focused on people considered influential in the contemporary world. It was distinct from an earlier retrospective TIME100 project centered on the twentieth century. Alongside Person of the Year, the annual list provided an editorial format that could recur from year to year and, later, connect with events and partnerships.

As audiences and advertising shifted toward digital media, traditional magazine publishers faced pressure on longstanding business models. TIME would later experiment with different ways of distributing and supporting its journalism.

How TIME Became Separate From Time Inc.

The next major change concerned corporate ownership rather than the magazine’s name or editorial format. Time Warner completed a spin-off of Time Inc. on June 9, 2014. The publisher became a separately publicly traded company and retained TIME among its magazine titles.

Meredith Corporation completed its acquisition of Time Inc. on January 31, 2018, in a deal announced at approximately $2.8 billion. That amount concerned the entire publisher, not the separate sale of the TIME brand that followed.

Meredith announced an agreement on September 16, 2018, to sell the TIME media brand to Marc and Lynne Benioff. The $190 million cash sale closed on November 1. It marked a separation between the magazine brand and the wider former Time Inc. portfolio.

The Benioffs bought the brand personally, not through Salesforce. Their purchase did not include the other former Time Inc. magazines, among them Fortune and Sports Illustrated. At the time, the parties said the new owners would not participate in daily editorial decisions.

Private Ownership and a Different Way to Reach Readers

Under the new ownership, TIME’s activities increasingly extended beyond the traditional print magazine. TIME Studios, launched in 2020, added a television and film production operation. The magazine’s established editorial properties also supplied recognizable subjects for digital content, events, and commercial partnerships.

Leadership changed during this period. TIME appointed Jessica Sibley as chief executive in 2022, and Sam Jacobs became editor in chief in 2023. Those appointments came as the business was reconsidering how readers could access its journalism and how its different activities could generate revenue.

On June 1, 2023, TIME removed its website paywall while continuing to sell paid print editions. Explaining the change to Axios, Sibley said, “We believe in the democratization of content.” She presented wider access as a central part of management’s approach.

The change also reflected management’s move toward revenue from advertising, partnerships, and events. Editorial franchises such as TIME100 and Person of the Year provided recognizable foundations for activities beyond magazine publishing.

The shift unfolded alongside staffing pressures. The Associated Press reported layoffs at TIME in 2024 as news organizations across the industry reduced their workforces. Expansion into new formats did not mean that the transition was free of setbacks.

In a November 2025 staff memo, Sibley reported a 22% year-over-year rise in advertising revenue and growth in events. Describing management’s strategy, she wrote, “Today, TIME is no longer a legacy, print-reliant organization.” Those figures and that characterization were the chief executive’s own account of the transformation.

In 2026, a TIME Korea website began operating under a licensing partnership with Chris & Ally Corp. The Korean edition had a separate local operator, extending the brand’s reach without making the licensee a subsidiary of the U.S. TIME business.

TIME’s Place in Media Today

As of October 10, 2026, TIME is an active, privately owned media business. Its masthead identifies Jessica Sibley as chief executive, Sam Jacobs as editor in chief, and Edward Felsenthal as executive chairman. Alongside print and online journalism, its activities include TIME Studios, editorial franchises, live events, and licensing partnerships.

The distance from Hadden and Luce’s weekly digest to a business spanning print, digital, film, and events is considerable. Yet a recognizable editorial identity has linked the different eras, even as corporate ownership and commercial models changed. Its present strategy is the latest chapter in that history, rather than a finished measure of success.

Timeline

These milestones trace TIME’s editorial beginnings, the corporate changes around it, and its more recent media expansion.

Timeline.

1922

Briton Hadden and Henry R. Luce establish a preparatory publishing operation in New York.

March 3, 1923

The first issue of TIME appears, introducing the founders’ compact weekly news format.

1927–1928

TIME adopts its red cover border in January 1927. Charles Lindbergh is selected as the inaugural 1927 Man of the Year, in an issue published in January 1928.

1929

Co-founder Briton Hadden dies on February 27, leaving Luce as the dominant figure in the publishing enterprise.

1930 and 1936

Time Inc. launches Fortune and Life, respectively, expanding beyond its founding newsmagazine.

1941

Luce publishes “The American Century” in Life, setting out his internationalist outlook.

1989–1990

Time Inc. and Warner Communications announce their merger in 1989 and complete it on January 10, 1990.

1994

TIME faces criticism over its digitally altered O.J. Simpson cover and publishes an editorial response.

2004

TIME begins the recurring annual current-influence TIME100 list.

June 9, 2014

Time Warner completes the spin-off of Time Inc. as a separately publicly traded publisher.

January 31, 2018

Meredith Corporation completes its acquisition of Time Inc.

November 1, 2018

Meredith completes the separate sale of the TIME media brand to Marc and Lynne Benioff for $190 million, following its September announcement.

2020

TIME launches TIME Studios for film and television production.

2022–2023

Jessica Sibley becomes chief executive in 2022. Sam Jacobs becomes editor in chief in 2023, and TIME removes its website paywall on June 1 that year.

2024–2025

TIME undergoes reported staff reductions in 2024. In 2025, Sibley describes a partnership- and event-oriented strategy and reports advertising growth.

2026

A licensed TIME Korea website begins operating through a separate local partner.

FAQs

Question: Who founded TIME magazine, and when did it begin?

Answer: Briton Hadden and Henry R. Luce founded TIME. Preparatory work took place in 1922, and its first magazine issue was dated March 3, 1923.

Question: Who owns TIME magazine now?

Answer: Marc and Lynne Benioff personally own the TIME media brand, which they purchased from Meredith in a sale completed November 1, 2018. Salesforce did not buy the magazine.

Question: Are TIME, Time Inc., and Time Warner the same company?

Answer: No. TIME is the magazine and media brand. Time Inc. was the publishing company that developed around it and merged with Warner Communications in 1990. Time Inc. was spun off from Time Warner in 2014 and purchased by Meredith in 2018; Meredith then sold the TIME brand separately.

Question: Does TIME’s Person of the Year mean the magazine endorses that person?

Answer: No. The annual selection recognizes perceived influence on events, not necessarily virtue or approval. The feature began with Charles Lindbergh as the 1927 Man of the Year, announced in an issue published early in 1928.

Question: Why is TIME’s website available without a digital paywall?

Answer: TIME removed its website paywall effective June 1, 2023, as part of an announced strategy to broaden access and develop its business. Paid print editions continued.

Question: What does TIME do beyond publishing the magazine?

Answer: TIME also publishes digital journalism, produces film and television through TIME Studios, operates events and editorial franchises, and develops partnerships, licensed editions, and digital products.

Interviews & Firsthand Resources

TIME’s First Century, Told Through Its Archives

TIME’s centennial interview with former Time Inc. archivist Bill Hooper provides a firsthand archival perspective on the magazine’s earliest years. It is useful for understanding Hadden’s place in the founding story and how the publication’s covers and institutional identity developed over time.

Read the archival interview

Jessica Sibley Explains the Digital Paywall Change

In an April 2023 Axios interview, TIME chief executive Jessica Sibley discussed the plan to make the company’s website journalism available without a paywall. The conversation offers a contemporaneous view of the management rationale and the distinction between digital access and continued paid print products.

Read the Axios interview and report

Sources