Call it a sign of the Time.
Even before Meredith officially took over Time Inc. on Thursday in a $2.8 billion acquisition, the new owner moved to take down all Time Inc. signage at 225 Liberty St.
Sources said that a crew was scheduled to arrive at 8 p.m. on Wednesday night to remove a large Time Inc. sign on the building’s facade and replace it with a Meredith sign.
One source said that if the weather did not cooperate, Meredith brass had ordered that a sheet be placed over the old Time sign.
“That is the very first thing they wanted to do before anything else,” said a publishing insider. “It really is the end of Time Inc.”
By 7 p.m. Wednesday, a source said, “They were tearing off signs in the lobby, the elevator and throughout the building.”
Meredith bosses had asked to remove the signs even earlier than Wednesday, but Time brass balked.
Also on Wednesday evening, Time Inc.’s Web site was redirected to Meredith’s.
The Post reported that new Meredith CEO Tom Harty will move into the offices of the last Time Inc. CEO, Rich Battista, on Thursday.
There’s no word on where the old sign will end up.
“It was a beautiful sign,” sighed a staffer on Wednesday night.
Time Inc.’s archives are already at the New-York Historical Society.