Meredith CEO Steve Lacy has left the door open to a chance of merger talks with Time Inc. somewhere down the road, although nothing is afoot at the moment.
The publicly traded Meredith, owner of TV stations and publisher of Better Homes & Gardens, and Time Inc., owner of Time, People, In Style and Real Simple, broke off merger talks in March 2013.
Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes had initiated the talks in late 2012 as a way to get the declining publishing division out of the company. When the talks collapsed, he decided instead to spin off Time Inc. as an independent company. That is on target to happen by the end of June.
Many on Wall Street think the talks may be rekindled because a combination of the two publishing powerhouses makes sense.
On the Meredith earnings call Thursday, analyst Greg Stein at Huber Research Partners broached the question that has been on the minds of a lot of media observers.
“There was a lot of talk last year about you merging with Time Inc., and Time Inc. is about to be spun off,” Huber said. “Are you still considering a merger with Time?”
“I want to be very, very clear for the record that there have not been any interactions, any discussions or conversations, between Meredith and Time Warner and/or Time Inc. since … early March a year ago,” Lacy said.
But then he seemed to leave the door ajar that talks could potentially start up once Time is clear of the initial public offering, maybe in a year or so.
“Clearly, they are aware of our interest level,” Lacy said.