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By Ronan Shields, Digital Editor

March 2, 2018 | 2 min read

Meredith Corporation is to close the UK offices of its adtech offering Viant, a confirmation that comes as it divests its UK and US interests, as indicated by the sale of Time UK earlier this week.

Viant’s marketing chief Jon Schulz confirmed the closure of its UK operations with The Drum in a statement which claimed the decision is in line with Meredith’s strategy of divesting its Time UK operations, with the company stating there will be "less than 20 employees impacted" by the closure.

“Consistent with this strategic enterprise reorganization, Viant has decided to close its UK offices. We are working closely with our UK clients to facilitate a smooth transition of their business needs,” added Schulz.

Earlier this week Meredith Corporation announced the intended sale of Time Inc UK, which publishes over 50 titles including Marie Claire, NME and Wallpaper, to private equity firm Epiris Fund II, with financial terms of the deal undisclosed.

Viant was purchased by Time Inc in early 2016 as part of the publisher’s programmatic strategy – which was later bolstered by the 2017 purchase of mobile demand-side platform (DSP) Adelphic – to provide advertisers with ‘people-based marketing opportunities’ via its advertising cloud (see video).

However, Meredith Corporation’s subsequent $1.85bn purchase of the publisher, which counts tier-one titles such as Fortune, People, Sports Illustrated and Time Magazine among its stable, heralds a more root-and-branch strategic overhaul.

Since the November purchase, there has been heavy speculation that a sell-off of under-performing titles is on the horizon, with weekly men's titles likely to be up for sale. The Drum contacted Meredith Corporation for comment on the role of adtech in its strategic vision, but a spokesman declined to comment.

Time Inc Meredith Corporation Mergers and Acquisitions

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