Time Inc. shares jump more than 9% after report company is seeking acquisition offers

Shares of publishing company Time Inc. were up more than 9% in premarket trade on Wednesday following a Bloomberg report, citing sources saying the company is seeking acquisition offers by next week. According to the report, Time's board wants to gauge how others value the company to determine whether Time would be better off selling the entire company or certain magazine titles. Time publishes more than 100 titles, including Sports Illustrated, InStyle, People and flagship magazine, Time. The report comes after months of potential acquisition talks. In December The Wall Street Journal reported that Time had hired Morgan Stanley and Bank of America Corp. to field buyout or partnership interest. And in February, magazine publisher Meredith Corp. and an investor group led by Edgar Bronfman advanced their pursuit of Time by signing non-disclosure agreements with the company. Time, which has a market valuation of $1.74 billion, has been struggling with declining advertising and newsstand revenue. Shares of the company are up more than 24% in the trailing 12-month period, while the S&P 500 index has gained more than 19% during the same period.

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