London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Wednesday, Sep 17, 2025

Marc Benioff bought Time Magazine to help address a 'crisis of trust'

Marc Benioff bought Time Magazine to help address a 'crisis of trust'

When Salesforce founder and Time magazine owner Marc Benioff looks around, he sees a "crisis of trust."
"Our world today needs more trust," Benioff said on Sunday's "Reliable Sources."

He said Time can be part of the solution by continuing to carry out its journalistic duty.

But the challenges are daunting, he said. "When you look at what's happening with social media, when you look at the types of decisions that are being made in regards to artificial intelligence and these next generation of technologies, especially as it's with regards to media, well, we're finding ourselves quite vested in a crisis of trust."

The Salesforce (CRM) chairman and his wife, Lynne Benioff, bought TIME from Meredith Corporation (MDP) for $190 million in 2018. The couple is just one among a series of billionaires who have scooped up legacy media titles in recent years, including Jeff Bezos, who owns the Washington Post, and Laurene Powell Jobs, who owns a majority stake in The Atlantic.

Benioff said he wanted the magazine to be "unshackled" from financial constraints to carry out its mission to provide truthful, trustworthy information to readers.

"Time magazine can be a steward of trust," Benioff said. "It's one of the core values of Time: trust, impact, the core magazine itself, and that it's about equality."

And he said it's working. Benioff said the print edition of Time is "probably more popular than ever," even as many other legacy print outlets struggle to compete with digital news. He claimed Time's most recent issue, its annual "Person of the Year" feature, is "probably the most successful issue of Time magazine of all time."

After the magazine named Greta Thunberg its person of the year for 2019, it raised some questions about the kind of influence Benioff - who has been outspoken about the need to address climate change - has at the magazine. But Benioff said that when he purchased the magazine, he decided not to get involved in editorial or operational decisions.

"We have our hands full already with lots of other exciting things that we do every single day," Benioff said. "But we want to be able to be the stewards of the historic brand and give them this ability to move forward and give them the fuel to move forward."

As for some of the causes of this "crisis of trust," Benioff again criticized Facebook (FB), something he has repeatedly done in recent years.

"Well, you can see Facebook is the new cigarettes for our society. It's something that badly needs to be regulated," he said. "They're certainly not exactly about truth in advertising. Even they have said that. That's why we're really in squarely a crisis of trust, when the core vendor themselves cannot say that trust is our most important value. Look, we're at a moment in time where each one of us in every company has to ask a question: What is our highest value?"

Benioff has called for the social media giant to be broken up - at the same time that the company has faced pressure from federal officials and state attorneys general over antitrust concerns. And on Sunday, Benioff said he really does expect to see Facebook divided.

"I expect a fundamental reconceptualization of what Facebook's role is in the world," Benioff said. "When you have an entity that large with that much potential impact, and not fundamentally doing good things to improve the state of the world, well, then I think everyone is going to have it in its crosshairs."

Facebook pushed back on the idea that it would be broken up.

"While some may see antitrust action as a catch all solution to address all social policy, the fact is that antitrust law is not intended to punish a company because you disagree with its leadership, dislike the product, or to impose liability where companies are seeking to compete vigorously- and even win - on the merits," a Facebook spokesperson said in a statement.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Hong Kong Industry Group Calls for HK$20 Billion Support Fund to Ease Property Market Stress
Joe Biden’s Post-Presidency Speaking Fees Face Weak Demand amid Corporate Reluctance
Charlie Kirk's murder will break the left's hateful cancel tactics
Kash Patel erupts at ‘buffoon’ Sen. Adam Schiff over Russiagate: ‘You are the biggest fraud’
Homeland Security says Emmy speech ‘fanning the flames of hatred’ after Einbinder’s ‘F— ICE’ remark
Charlie Kirk’s Alleged Assassin Tyler Robinson Faces Death Penalty as Charges Formally Announced
Actor, director, environmentalist Robert Redford dies at 89
The conservative right spreads westward: a huge achievement for 'Alternative for Germany' in local elections
JD Vance Says There Is “No Unity” with Those Who Celebrate Charlie Kirk’s Killing, and he is right!
Trump sues the 'New York Times' for an astronomical sum of 15 billion dollars
Florida Hospital Welcomes Its Largest-Ever Baby: Annan, Nearly Fourteen Pounds at Birth
U.S. and Britain Poised to Finalize Over $10 Billion in High-Tech, Nuclear and Defense Deals During Trump State Visit
China Finds Nvidia Violated Antitrust Laws in Mellanox Deal, Deepens Trade Tensions with US
US Air Force Begins Modifications on Qatar-Donated Jet Amid Plans to Use It as Air Force One
Pope Leo Warns of Societal Crisis Over Mega-CEO Pay, Citing Tesla’s Proposed Trillion-Dollar Package
Poland Green-Lights NATO Deployment in Response to Major Russian Drone Incursion
Elon Musk Retakes Lead as World’s Richest After Brief Ellison Surge
U.S. and China Agree on Framework to Shift TikTok to American Ownership
London Daily Podcast: London Massive Pro Democracy Rally, Musk Support, UK Economic Data and Premier League Results Mark Eventful Weekend
This Week in AI: Meta’s Superintelligence Push, xAI’s Ten Billion-Dollar Raise, Genesis AI’s Robotics Ambitions, Microsoft Restructuring, Amazon’s Million-Robot Milestone, and Google’s AlphaGenome Update
Le Pen Tightens the Pressure on Macron as France Edges Toward Political Breakdown
Musk calls for new UK government at huge pro-democracy rally in London, but Britons have been brainwashed to obey instead of fighting for their human rights
Elon Musk responds to post calling for the murder of Erika Kirk, widow of Charlie Kirk: 'Either we fight back or they will kill us'
Czech Republic signs €1.34 billion contract for Leopard 2A8 main battle tanks with delivery from 2028
USA: Office Depot Employees Refused to Print Poster in Memory of Charlie Kirk – and Were Fired
Proposed U.S. Bill Would Allow Civil Suits Against Judges Who Release Repeat Violent Offenders
Penske Media Sues Google Over “AI Overviews,” Claiming It Uses Journalism Without Consent and Destroys Traffic
Indian Student Engineers Propose “Project REBIRTH” to Protect Aircraft from Crashes Using AI, Airbags and Smart Materials
French Debt Downgrade Piles Pressure on Macron’s New Prime Minister
US and UK Near Tech, Nuclear and Whisky Deals Ahead of Trump Trip
One in Three Europeans Now Uses TikTok, According to the Chinese Tech Giant
Could AI Nursing Robots Help Healthcare Staffing Shortages?
NATO Deploys ‘Eastern Sentry’ After Russian Drones Violate Polish Airspace
Anesthesiologist Left Operation Mid-Surgery to Have Sex with Nurse
Tens of Thousands of Young Chinese Get Up Every Morning and Go to Work Where They Do Nothing
The New Life of Novak Djokovic
The German Owner of Politico Mathias Döpfner Eyes Further U.S. Media Expansion After Axel Springer Restructuring
Suspect Arrested: Utah Man in Custody for Charlie Kirk’s Fatal Shooting
In a politically motivated trial: Bolsonaro Sentenced to 27 Years for Plotting Coup After 2022 Defeat
German police raid AfD lawmaker’s offices in inquiry over Chinese payments
Turkish authorities seize leading broadcaster amid fraud and tax investigation
Volkswagen launches aggressive strategy to fend off Chinese challenge in Europe’s EV market
ChatGPT CEO signals policy to alert authorities over suicidal youth after teen’s death
The British legal mafia hit back: Banksy mural of judge beating protester is scrubbed from London court
Surpassing Musk: Larry Ellison becomes the richest man in the world
Embarrassment for Starmer: He fired the ambassador photographed on Epstein’s 'pedophile island'
Manhunt after 'skilled sniper' shot Charlie Kirk. Footage: Suspect running on rooftop during panic
Effective Protest Results: Nepal’s Prime Minister Resigns as Youth-Led Unrest Shakes the Nation
Qatari prime minister says Netanyahu ‘killed any hope’ for Israeli hostages
King Charles and Prince Harry Share First In-Person Moment in 19 Months
×