Almost certainly: an attempt to de-fang a discussion that would almost certainly be highly political, and in the hope that discussion of that element might at least tend to be amongst those who'd read the article rather than responded to the headline.
A moderator changed it to “Time Inc. Sells Itself to Meredith Corp, owner of Family Circle and AllRecipes” for that reason (after there were plenty of such tangential comments as evidence), but we've changed it back.
Happens constantly here now, with no explanation. Rank-and-file contributors are scolded about editorialising headlines, yet the moderators do it all the time when it suits their fancy.
Along with the shadow bans that get handed out on a whim, it's one of the major reasons I've stopped visiting.
Information delivery rates matter.