Life Magazine Will Come Back to, Well, Life

Kushner and Kloss take over Life magazine

Life, the iconic photography-focused chronicler of the 20th century, has taken on many forms, including a weekly magazine, a website and the occasional special issue.

Now, it is set to resume regular print publication, thanks to a deal between Barry Diller’s IAC and Josh Kushner, the venture capitalist whose Thrive Capital is one of the biggest investors in OpenAI, and his wife, the entrepreneur and model Karlie Kloss.

Kushner and Kloss are buying the publication rights to Life from Dotdash Meredith, the print and digital publisher. The deal is being done through Bedford Media, the media start-up that Kloss leads as C.E.O. (The price wasn’t disclosed.)

Life was once a central part of American culture, featuring the work of renowned photographers like Robert Capa and writing by top authors. (Ernest Hemingway’s “The Old Man and the Sea” first appeared in its pages.).

But its popularity plunged after the 1970s, with the magazine largely being reduced to light reading and celebrity news. In 2008, it became an online archive with occasional newsstand editions.

The backstory: Kushner approached Diller about resurrecting Life about eight months ago, DealBook hears. His pitch was that the magazine could be resurrected in print and online — as well as in newer iterations like events and collaborations with brands and major studios.