Time
U.S. center/center-left
Background
Time was founded in 1923 by Henry Luce and Briton Hadden as one of the first weekly newsmagazines, and for decades was part of Time Inc., a dominant force in American print media. It passed through Time Warner and then Meredith Corporation before Meredith sold the flagship title to Marc and Lynne Benioff in 2018 for $190 million, separating it from Meredith's other publications. Under Benioff, Time has expanded into live events (Time100 Summit, Time100 Impact Awards) and leaned into technology and AI coverage, drawing some criticism that it promotes Benioff's business interests, including Salesforce's AI products. Time has interviewed and profiled Donald Trump repeatedly, including naming him Person of the Year multiple times, and its Trump-era covers have swung between images seen as sympathetic and others, like the March 2026 'MAGA hats of other nations' cover, that drew backlash from Trump and his supporters. It retains a reputation as a mainstream, generalist news brand, historically centrist-to-liberal in editorial sensibility, though its billionaire ownership structure and event-driven business model set it apart from traditional newsroom-funded outlets.
Sources
- Time Magazine Is Bought by Marc Benioff, Salesforce Billionaire
- Time Magazine sold to Salesforce founder Marc Benioff and his wife, Lynne, for $190 million
- Billionaire Marc Benioff, Owner of Time, Uses Magazine to Promote His AI Software
- Trump calls Time magazine cover the 'worst photo of all time'
- Eight countries, eight red caps: TIME drops controversial and MAGA-misunderstood cover
Profile compiled 2026-09-26; refreshed when ownership, funding, or the administration changes.