NME and Uncut acquired in deal funded by controversial Republican billionaires

The cash deal, agreed last night (16 November), has been heavily backed by controversial Republican billionaires the Koch Brothers. The "private equity wing" of their company - Koch Industries - has helped fund the $2.8 billion deal, stumping up $650 million cash. The deal is expected to be finalised early next year.

Complete Music Update states that the merger "will inevitably result in some probably not insignificant downsizing... likely to hit hardest in the US."

"We are creating a premiere media company serving nearly 200 million American consumers across industry-leading digital, television, print, video, mobile, and social platforms positioned for growth," says Meredith's CEO Stephen M Lacy in a statement. "We are adding the rich content-creation capabilities of some of the media industry’s strongest national brands to a powerful local television business that is generating record earnings, offering advertisers and marketers unparalleled reach to American adults... we are also creating a powerful digital media business with 170 million monthly unique visitors in the US and over 10 billion annual video views, enhancing Meredith’s leadership position in reaching millennials."

The Koch Brothers wield worrying influence in American politics, despite their noted disdain of the current President, and have funded numerous conservative and libertarian causes in the past. Their close ties to Vice President Mike Pence are well documented as well.

Despite their political dealings, the Meredith Corporation claims that the Kochs will be "hands off", and won't even have a seat on the company's board.

Time Inc. was formerly a division of Time Warner before spinning off in 2014; NME and Uncut are part of the British subsidiary Time Inc. UK. Representatives for NME and Uncut declined to comment.