Koch Brothers

The American media landscape, like the rest of the country, is being reshaped by the whims of the ultra-rich

Charles and David Koch, the billionaire U.S. industrialist brothers, are backing publisher and broadcaster Meredith Corp.’s revived bid to purchase Time Inc., according to a person familiar with the matter. The Kochs have tentatively agreed to support Meredith’s offer with an equity injection of more than $500 million, the person said, confirming an earlier report. The person asked not to be identified because the matter is private.

The donor network helmed by billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch is running a new $2 million campaign against Democratic Pennsylvania Senate candidate Katie McGinty. The campaign is funded by the network’s main political super-PAC, the Freedom Partners Action Fund, and brings the group’s total spending in Pennsylvania to $5.5 million.

The Koch brothers are planning to spend $889 million on the 2016 political campaign. There are those who see this as a terrible subversion of democracy. There are others who see it as a big waste of Charles (left) and David Koch’s money. Then there are the owners of television stations, who can be forgiven if they see the partisan zeal of the Kochs and other politically engaged billionaires as a great gift from heaven, or at least from the U.S. Supreme Court.

It was interesting while it lasted, but the 2016 election is now officially “bought.” The purchasers are the Koch brothers, and the price, a cool $889 million. The news that the network organized by David and Charles Koch plans to spend roughly $900 million in the 2016 cycle has freaked out Democrats, outraged so-called campaign-finance reformers and inspired hand-wringing about the future of Earth.

The political network overseen by the conservative billionaires Charles G. and David H. Koch plans to spend close to $900 million on the 2016 campaign, an unparalleled effort by coordinated outside groups to shape a presidential election that is already on track to be the most expensive in history.

The Koch brothers’ main political arm intends to spend more than $125 million this year on an aggressive ground, air and data operation benefiting conservatives, according to a memo distributed to major donors and sources familiar with the group. The projected budget for Americans for Prosperity would be unprecedented for a private political group in a midterm, and would likely rival even the spending of the Republican and Democratic parties’ congressional campaign arms.

David and Charles no longer consider investing in the Tribune’s publications as “economically viable.”

Charles and David Koch, two of the world’s richest men, are interested in Tribune’s newspaper assets, which include the Los Angeles Times and the Chicago Tribune, according to sources familiar with situation.