Time Inc. Sells Essence Magazine and Its Music Festival
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Time Inc. announced Wednesday the sale of Essence Communications, which includes the magazine and its popular music festival.
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Fortune
Essence Communications was founded in 1968 and the first issue of Essence magazine arrived in May 1970. Initially launched as a fashion magazine, the publication covers topics from lifestyle to politics for black women. Time Inc., then a part of Time Warner and publisher of Fortune, Time, Sports Illustrated, and People, among other magazine titles, purchased 49% of Essence Communications in 2000. Five years later, it bought the remaining shares.

Essence’s wildly popular Essence Festival, held in New Orleans and featured prominently in last year’s summer film Girls Trip, is the biggest magazine-sponsored festival in the world. More than 470,000 people attended last year and the crowd is expected to be even bigger this July, thanks in part to the movie’s impressive box office performance.

Essence Ventures is an African-American owned company focused on merging content, community, and commerce founded by Richelieu Dennis, the CEO and founder of Sundial Brands. The company owns Nubian Heritage, Madame C.J. Walker, and nyako. In November, it sold one of its most well-known brands, SheaMoisture, to Unilever.

Essence president Michelle Ebanks will continue in her role. Notably, she—along with the rest of the company’s all-black female executive team—will have an equity stake in the business. “It represents a critical recognition, centering, and elevation of the black women running the business from solely a leadership position to a co-ownership position,” Ebanks said in a statement, adding that the transaction was “the beginning of an exciting transformation.”