Sunset Magazine Sold to Private Equity Firm in Beverly Hills

Sunset Magazine has been sold to a private equity firm based in Beverly Hills, according to The New York Times. Time Inc. sold the publication, founded in 1898, to Regent, an equity firm owned by a fellow Californian.

The announcement of the sale, which has been in the works for some time, comes days after it was announced that Time was selling itself to Meredith —publisher of Better Homes and Gardens, Martha Stewart, and other lifestyle brands — for $2.8 billion in move funded by equity from Koch Industries. Buyer Michael Reinstein’s firm also retains a slew of history and military publications like Army Times.

The sale has resulted in the loss of an unspecified number of jobs within the magazine’s staff of 30. The magazine, which sold its seven-acre campus and moved its headquarters to Oakland in 2014, will undergo restructuring, but will remain based in the Bay Area. Food editor Margo True will stay on, with an increased investment in food and wine events, model homes (a Sunset trademark), and more of an emphasis on digital and video.

The sale is one of many this year that have left media companies in a place of uncertainty, including yesterday’s layoff of almost the entire staff of LA Weekly, abrupt shutdown of Gothamist/DNAinfo, and layoffs throughout the industry at erstwhile tech darlings like BuzzFeed and Mashable.

• Sunset Magazine Is Sold to a California Private Equity Firm [NYT]
• Time Inc. Sells Off Sunset Mag's Seven-Acre California Campus [E]