The following excerpt was sent out from Time’s CEO Jessica Sibley:
Sam Jacobs
Team,
Today, I am thrilled to announce Sam Jacobs as the new Editor in Chief of TIME, effective immediately. Sam will lead TIME’s global newsroom, guide our trusted journalism, and drive innovation across editorial as we continue to focus on accelerating our digital transformation and growing TIME’s audiences.
This is an exciting moment for our brand and today we are making history: Sam is the youngest editor to lead TIME since co-founder Henry Luce. His appointment as TIME’s 19th top editor comes as we are reaching the largest audience in our history—105 million people around the world—with readers under the age of 35 accounting for 45% of TIME’s global audience.
During his decade at TIME, Sam has been instrumental in setting the strategic direction of the editorial team and leading TIME’s trusted journalism across all platforms. In addition to hiring dozens of journalists around the world, he has played a major role in the integration of TIME’s newsroom across platforms—including expanding TIME’s global events, partnering with TIME Studios and building a sustainability platform with TIME CO2 which just launched with the TIME CO2 Earth Awards. Sam has guided the strategy for TIME’s digital editorial operation, which has won multiple Emmy and National Magazine Awards.
Please join me in congratulating Sam on his new position.
Best,
Jess
Jacobs added:
Dear all,
I could not be more excited to be named Editor in Chief of TIME. Over the last few weeks, I’ve had the chance to speak with many of you and am looking forward to more conversations this spring. I want to hear what excites you about TIME’s future and how we can support our values together.
I deeply appreciate Jess’s support, trust and partnership; she is a champion for TIME’s journalism and TIME’s future. I am grateful to our editorial team for the extraordinary journalism we create together and to Marc and Lynne for their unparalleled commitment to our work and our mission.
I am also grateful to Edward who gave me my first job in journalism and has changed my life and the life of TIME.