Cox Media Group owner of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and other major outlets is planning roughly 87 layoffs at its campuses in the Dunwoody and Sandy Springs sections of Perimeter Center.
The layoffs are reportedly management-level and will not affect the AJC newsroom which is at the Dunwoody site. That property has a redevelopment plan in the works but the layoffs apparently are not related to any major real estate changes. The company employs thousands so the number of layoffs is relatively small.
SANDUSKY — The Sandusky Register’s new owner has stepped in to fill a gap left by the closure of a longtime Ohio newspaper in Youngstown.
The Warren Tribune Chronicle acquired the Youngstown Vindicator’s subscription list the Vindicator’s name and the Vindy.com Internet domain.
The Tribune Chronicle is owned by Ogden Newspapers which on Aug. 1 acquired the Sandusky Register and the Norwalk Reflector.
CHAMPAIGN — At an all-staff meeting today News-Gazette Media CEO John Reed announced to employees that an agreement has been signed to sell substantially all of its assets to the family-owned Champaign Multimedia Group LLC an affiliate company of Community Media Group. The sale is expected to close in early November.
CMG headquartered in downstate West Frankfort owns and operates community newspapers with websites in several Midwestern states including Illinois Indiana and Iowa as well as newspapers in Michigan Pennsylvania and New York.
The acquisition of News-Gazette Media will include three radio stations: WDWS WHMS and WKIO serving the Champaign-Urbana Danville and East Central Illinois areas Reed said. The acquisition will also include weekly newspapers free-distribution shoppers and websites serving Mahomet Rantoul Ford County Piatt County and Vermilion County.
Catherine Miller announced today the sale of the NewsTribune Illinois and Indiana Agri-News publications to Shaw Media based in Crystal Lake.
The sale is expected to close Sept. 1. Terms were not disclosed.
The sale of the newspapers marks the end of an over 70 year ownership by the Miller family. Peter Miller Jr. acquired the Peru Herald in 1946 and later that year the La Salle Post Tribune. In 1947 these two papers were merged into the Daily News-Tribune. The name was changed to NewsTribune in 1984. The NewsTribune serves readers in La Salle Bureau Putnam and Marshall counties.
A Bend real estate investor bid $13.25 million to buy out of bankruptcy The Bulletin’s headquarters — property near Oregon State University-Cascades that includes 2.5 acres of vacant land with development potential.
Next Development Group led by Bradley Kent would pay cash for the property according to an asset purchase agreement filed in bankruptcy court Wednesday.
Prior to filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in January The Bulletin’s parent company Western Communications had listed its office building and printing plant on Chandler Avenue for $20 million. It was one of the highest-priced real estate listings in Bend in February 2017.
WILKES-BARRE — A North Carolina-based media company has acquired the Times Leader the company announced Friday.
Avant Publications has purchased the daily newspaper along with its branded publications including the Weekender the Sunday Dispatch the Abington Journal and its digital properties according to the announcement. The properties were owned by Civitas Media a portfolio company of Philadelphia-based private equity firm Versa Capital Management.
The announcement identifies Avant’s leadership as chief executives Scott Champion and Andrew Mok Chief Financial Officer Corey Champion and Chief Technology Officer Nick DeLorenzo.
When Steven Malkowich announced on Thursday that his company had completed the purchase of The Union Democrat employees applauded.
He said “Our plans are to continue on business as usual.”
It was the first day under the management of Quest California News Media Inc. a new entity created after Rhode Island Suburban Newspapers submitted a successful bid for the paper.
Quest hired managers reporters and circulation and sales personnel who had worked for Western Communications which is liquidating its business under the strain of nearly $30 million in debt.
EO Media Group was the high bidder at an auction Monday for The Bulletin and Redmond Spokesman offering $3.65 million for Central Oregon’s century-old daily newspaper and a sister weekly.
EO Media or East Oregonian Publishing outbid Adams Publishing Group in the auction at the offices of Tonkon Torp LLP in Portland said Michael Fletcher attorney for The Bulletin’s parent company Western Communications. A previous bidder Rhode Island Suburban Newspapers Inc. did not participate in the auction he said. Judge Trish Brown in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Oregon approved the sale which is expected to close at the end of August.
With about $30 million in debt Western Communications filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in January. It was the company’s second trip to bankruptcy court since 2012 driven by debt from its headquarters building on Chandler Avenue that was built in 2000.
RED WING — RiverTown Multimedia officials announced this week the Republican Eagle and Pierce County Herald newspapers will merge into one publication.
The newspaper will be called the Republican Eagle and will serve the cities of Red Wing and Ellsworth along with Pierce and Goodhue counties. The change takes effect with the Aug. 7 edition.
The merger is part of a divisionwide change that will see newspapers from Hudson River Falls and New Richmond fold into the Star-Observer and the Woodbury Bulletin combine with the South Washington County Bulletin to become the Bulletin. Another RiverTown newspaper the Hastings Star Gazette will remain a stand-alone publication.
The Katy Times will continue publishing after July 25 thanks to a deal negotiated this week between Fenice Community Media and Hartman Newspapers LP.
Hartman Newspapers LP which has owned the Times since 1973 announced earlier this month that it planned to cease publishing the print edition of the newspaper. Hartman has sold its interest in The Katy Times to Chionsini Children Ltd. Chionsini Children is managed by Cedar Park-based Fenice Community Media.
“We are pleased to be able to continue publishing The Katy Times. The outpouring of support for the newspaper from the community since the announcement earlier this month was a major factor in us approaching (Hartman Newspapers) Chairman Bill Hartman to discuss the possibility of a sale ” Fenice Community Media CEO Brandi Chionsini said.
