UPDATE, Dec. 27: The Times announced the sale, for $143 million, a price media analyst Ken Doctor called “incredibly low” for papers' that had approximately $264 million in revenue in 2010. (Read more)
The New York Times Co., whose flagship newspaper often provides the best coverage of rural America because it has reporters chasing rural stories over most of the country, is completing its long, drawn-out withdrawal from the rural newspaper business.
The company said yesterday it was in "advanced discussions" to sell its Regional Media Group to Halifax Media Holdings LLC, which owns, among other papers, the Daytona Beach News-Journal. Five of the Times regional papers are in Florida: the News Chief of Winter Haven, the Gainesville Sun, the Star-Banner of Ocala, The Ledger of Lakeland and Sarasota Herald-Tribune, the largest paper in the chain at 76,000 circulation.
Most of the 16 papers are in the Southeast, but the chain also includes three California papers: The Press-Democrat of Santa Rosa, second largest in the chain; the weekly Petaluma Argus-Courier, and the North Bay Business Journal. Other major papers in the chain include The Star-News in Wilmington, N.C., the Herald-Journal of Spartanburg, S.C., and The Tuscaloosa News in Alabama.
Besides the News-Chief (circ. 4,839) and the weekly business paper, the truly community papers in the chain are The Gadsden Times of Alabama, 20,663; The Courier of Houma, La., 14,715; the Times-News of Hendersonville, N.C., 13,603; the Daily Comet of Thibodaux, La.; The Dispatch of Lexington, N.C. All told, the papers have a weekday circulation of 433,251 and 1,755 full-time employees.
One of Halifax's key investors is Stephens Capital Partners, a Little Rock, Ark.-based private equity firm. It owns Stephens Media Group, a Las Vegas-based company that owns 11 daily and 64 weekly newspapers in nine states, primarily in Nevada and Arkansas. Its flagship is the Las Vegas Review-Journal," reports Kevin McCallum of the Press-Democrat. "The Times Co. has shed assets as it tries to focus on its anchor newspapers: The New York Times, The Boston Globe and the International Herald Tribune."
Amy Chozik of the Times writes that the company "went on a regional-newspaper buying spree in the 1970s and 1980s," but does not note that it began selling some of its smaller papers, such as those in the Kentucky coal towns of Harlan, Middlesboro and Madisonville, a few years later.
The New York Times Co., whose flagship newspaper often provides the best coverage of rural America because it has reporters chasing rural stories over most of the country, is completing its long, drawn-out withdrawal from the rural newspaper business.
Most of the 16 papers are in the Southeast, but the chain also includes three California papers: The Press-Democrat of Santa Rosa, second largest in the chain; the weekly Petaluma Argus-Courier, and the North Bay Business Journal. Other major papers in the chain include The Star-News in Wilmington, N.C., the Herald-Journal of Spartanburg, S.C., and The Tuscaloosa News in Alabama.
One of Halifax's key investors is Stephens Capital Partners, a Little Rock, Ark.-based private equity firm. It owns Stephens Media Group, a Las Vegas-based company that owns 11 daily and 64 weekly newspapers in nine states, primarily in Nevada and Arkansas. Its flagship is the Las Vegas Review-Journal," reports Kevin McCallum of the Press-Democrat. "The Times Co. has shed assets as it tries to focus on its anchor newspapers: The New York Times, The Boston Globe and the International Herald Tribune."
Amy Chozik of the Times writes that the company "went on a regional-newspaper buying spree in the 1970s and 1980s," but does not note that it began selling some of its smaller papers, such as those in the Kentucky coal towns of Harlan, Middlesboro and Madisonville, a few years later.
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