Reports: Time Inc. In Talks To Buy American Express Magazines

(RTTNews) - Time Inc., the magazine unit of Time Warner Inc. (TWX), is in advanced talks to buy the publishing unit of American Express Co. (AXP), according to media reports on Monday.

American Express' publishing unit includes luxury publications such as "Travel+Leisure" and "Food & Wine", in addition to "Departures", "Executive Travel", and "Black Ink". The last three titles are distributed to card holders of American Express.

Time Inc. and American Express have a long-standing relationship since 1993. Under an arrangement, Time handles functions like subscription fulfillment and other back-office operations on behalf of American Express.

However, the magazine publishing unit may have reportedly posed regulatory issues for American Express, which is now a bank holding company. Regulators have discourage licensed banks from participating in non-financial businesses.

In March, Time Warner revealed plans to spin off Time Inc. into an independent public company as the media giant focused more on television networks and related businesses to buoy growth. The proposed move is expected to be completed by the end of the calendar year 2013.

Time Warner's decision to spin-off Time Inc. comes amid pressures confronting its magazines such as "Time" and "Sports Illustrated", and is symptomatic of the tough times the whole industry is grappling with.

Time Warner also said at that time that Time Inc. CEO Laura Lang will exit her post, but will stay on through the transition process and until a successor has been found. In July, Time Warner named Joseph Ripp as CEO of Time Inc.

The proposed spin-off of Time Inc. had scuttled hopes of Meredith Corp. (MDP), which earlier held talks with Time Warner for a combination of Meredith's National Media Group with Time Inc.'s Lifestyle and Style & Entertainment brands. Meredith is the publisher of women's titles such as Ladies' Home Journal.

TWX closed Monday's trading at $62.24, up $0.79 or 1.29 percent on a volume of 2.98 million shares.

AXP closed Monday's trading at $73.66, up $0.31 or 0.42 percent on a volume of 3.19 million shares.