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Media Mergers, Acquisitions, Appraisals + Consulting

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  • 08-15-2025
    What Newspaper Publishers Can Learn from the Magazine Revival
    By Kelli Bultena I recently read the Inside the Print Revival Report from Media Voices, and it really struck a chord. While it’s geared toward magazine publishers, so much of…  
  • 04-01-2025
    What Makes a Newspaper Valuable?
    Lessons from my own experience and the M&A market By Kelli Bultena When I was a newspaper publisher in communities of 2,500 and 5,000, my priority was always the same—serve…  
  • 12-08-2024
    From Consolidation to Community: The Shifts Defining Q4 2024
    The publishing industry in Q4 2024 was defined by both documented challenges and emerging opportunities. Legacy newspapers continued to grapple with financial pressures, leading to closures and layoffs. Yet, the quarter…  
  • 10-01-2022
    Newspapers & Automobiles
    Newspapers & Automobiles: What do the Ford, Chrysler, Scripps, Booth and Kuser families have in common? They all were pioneers in automobile manufacturing in the early 1900s. Three of these families…  
  • 10-01-2022
    A Year Later: Jim O’Rourke
    A Year Later During the past two years, many newspapers have been acquired by independent owners. This new feature in our newsletter checks in with these owners a year later…  
  • 10-15-2021
    Four Decades After Serving as Publisher, Phillips Acquires Mountain Home Daily
    Phillips Media Group’s founder Rupert Phillips served as the publisher of the Baxter Bulletin in Mountain Home, Arkansas in the 1970s before buying his first paper, the Mountain Echo of…  
  • 01-01-2021
    Landmark Communications Completes Sale of Remaining Newspaper Holdings, Exiting Industry
    With the sale of its remaining community newspapers to Paxton Media Group, Landmark Communications has ended its 116-year history in the newspaper industry. Frank Batten, Jr., the company’s current chairman,…  
  • 12-01-2020
    San Francisco Examiner’s Rich History Adds a Chapter
    Native San Franciscan Clint Reilly became the sixth owner of the San Francisco Examiner when he acquired the newspaper from Black Press in January 2021. The Examiner has a rich…  
  • 12-01-2020
    Taylor Family Acquires Centralia (WA) Chronicle
    In January 2021, it was announced the Taylor family had bought the Centralia (WA) Chronicle, the Nisqually Valley News in Yelm and The Reflector in Battle Ground from Lafromboise Communications. The…  
  • 11-01-2020
    Modernizing Public Notices
    Column is a software company offering the first collaborative public notice platform for local newspapers and their customers. Registered as a public benefit corporation, the company provides easy to use…  
  • 08-01-2020
    The Tale of Three Family Newspaper Owners: A look back as McClatchy heads toward sale to Chatham Asset Management
    James McClatchy’s first newspaper job was with Horace Greeley’s New York Tribune just after he emigrated from Ireland. Seven years later, McClatchy headed west with thousands of others during the…  
  • 07-01-2020
    Renowned Small-Town Journalist William Allen White Featured in New Documentary
    recently released documentary on William Allen White, the renowned small-town journalist from Emporia, Kansas, is a must watch video for those in the newspaper industry today. William Allen White: What’s…  
  • 04-01-2020
    Will reducing print frequency reduce the value of your company
    A common question on the minds of publishers today is whether reducing print frequency could reduce the value of the company. The short answer is no, and there is a…  
  • 03-31-2018
    Industry Strategies: How working together bilaterally and multilaterally will move our industry forward
    Since leaving McClatchy last year, I’ve looked at various positions, including a number beyond media. One I found to be particularly cool was the COO of Dogfish Head Brewery in…  
  • 03-31-2017
    History of Ownership Consolidation
    History of Ownership ConsolidationMore than 85% of daily circulation currently owned by groups In 1900, 90% of daily newspaper circulation was under the control of independent owners – that is,…  
  • 03-31-2017
    Should Private Newspaper Companies Adopt Formal Board Practices?
    The Whys and Hows of Effective Board Governance I am asked regularly whether there is truly a compelling benefit for private companies in adopting structured governance practices for their boards…  
  • 03-31-2016
    Selling a Newspaper Business A Primer on Legal Process, Structure and Terms
    By Harvey Koning This primer was written to help newspaper managers and owners pursuing a sale of their business. We touch on the basics of the sale process with a…  
  • 12-31-2015
    Pennsylvania Publisher Takes on the Big Apple
    In October, Peter D. Barbey, president and CEO of the Reading Eagle Co., acquired the Village Voice through his personal investment company. Barbey’s family has owned and operated newspapers in…  
  • 12-31-2015
    Longest-Owned Newspapers: West Region
    Family owners and a four-way tie We ventured west in this sixth and final installment of our series examining the industry’s longest-owned newspapers by state. Family owners have a been…  
  • 09-30-2015
    A 20-year Story of Employee Ownership Comes to an End
    Twenty years ago, my family had a problem. We were the sole and devoted owners of a successful stand-alone daily newspaper in Monroe, Michigan. But our principle shareholders – my…  
  • 09-30-2015
    Public Companies on the Hunt
    With Tribune and New Media leading the pack, public companies have been the buyers in transactions totaling a overwhelming 91 percent of daily newspaper deal dollar volume so far in…  
  • 09-30-2015
    Longest-Owned Newspapers: Northeast
    In our fifth installment of an ongoing feature profiling the industry’s longest-owned newspapers, we turn to the Northeast. Pennsylvania, which has more dailies than any state in the union save…  
  • 06-30-2015
    And the newest public company is … Gannett!
    In 1967, Gannett became the fifth newspaper company to sell shares to the public. Subsequently becoming the largest publisher of U.S. newspapers, it dominated the industry landscape for several decades.…  
  • 06-30-2015
    Third-generation owner expands footprint
    Otis Brumby started the weekly Cobb County (GA) Times in 1916, and in 1951 purchased the competing Marietta (GA) Daily Journal. His son, Otis Jr., came to work as the…  
  • 06-30-2015
    Longest-Owned Newspapers: Midwest Region, Part 2
    In our fourth installment of an ongoing feature profiling the industry’s longest-owned newspapers, we look at the eastern portion of the Midwest region, home to the longest-owned daily in country:…  
  • 06-30-2014
    The Changing Landscape of Newspaper Acquisitions
  • 06-30-2014
    Century Club: Number of dailies owned for 100 years or more grows
    There are now 88 daily newspapers that have been owned for more than 100 years by the same business entity or family, up from 74 in 2000. Many of these…  
  • 12-31-2013
    Goodbye to the Deal Guy: Dean Singleton retires after deal-filled career
    Twenty-year-old Texas native Dean Singleton bought the Clarendon (TX) Press in 1972, the first acquisition in a newspaper career that would span 45 years. Singleton retired at the end of…  
  • 12-31-2013
    Debt financing of newspapers in the post-recession era
    Charles Dreifus currently heads Charles J. Dreifus & Associates LLC (“CJDA”), which he established in 2010.  The firm is engaged in financial consulting and advisory to middle market media companies…  
  • 10-20-2013
    Harte-Hanks Exits Shopper Business
    At its peak in 2006, Harte-Hanks’ shopper division reached 13.4 million households every week and had revenue of $475 million and operating income of $89 million. In September the company…  
  • 07-18-2013
    ABARTA: A look at The Press of Atlantic City’s longtime family owners
    ABARTA, a privately owned Pittsburgh-based holding company, recently announced it is selling The Press of Atlantic City to Berkshire Hathaway after more than 60 years of ownership. The newspaper and…  
  • 06-30-2013
    Dailies Sold by Region: A five-year study shows Southeast states outpacing all others
    Here’s a question we often get from reporters at major national newspapers doing a “trend” story: “So, no one is buying newspapers these days, right?” Surprise! A lot of newspapers…  
  • 12-31-2012
    The "Gateway" in Northern Virginia
    The owners of the daily News & Messenger serving communities in Northern Virginia decided to shutter the newspaper after concluding it didn’t possess a strong enough franchise in a fragmented…  
  • 12-31-2012
    Executive Roundtable: Building value in changing times
    The newspaper industry used to be a pretty simple business.  The biggest headache often involved negotiations with a headstrong local car dealer.  These days, however, newspaper publishing is a multi-front…  
  • 12-31-2011
    Decade in Review: New highs and new lows
    It all started with Y2K. Remember that? If that were all we had to worry about today. Whatever you call this decade, it was certainly one to remember: two record-setting…  
  • 12-31-2011
    The Year of the Big Deal
    The Year of the Big Deal: Newspaper sales activity reaches levels not seen since the start of the recession Big transactions returned in 2011. After a couple of years in…  
  • 12-31-2011
    2012 Outlook
    By: John Janedis, Analyst, UBS Securities LLC   After significant improvement in print ad growth trends from 2009 to 2010, the recovery appears to have stalled in 2011, with combined…  
  • 12-21-2011
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  • 09-30-2011
    Family Owners Expand Into Florida
    Members of the Osteen family have been involved in newspapering in Sumter, South Carolina, for more than 150 years, which is believed to be the longest continuous family involvement in…  
  • 09-30-2011
    A Look at 100,000+ Circulation Dailies
  • 09-30-2011
    Ex-Ottaway Execs Launch Mobile Ad Venture
    Two former executives with Dow Jones’ community newspaper division, Ottaway Newspapers, have started a mobile advertising service aimed at local businesses. With an initial roll out in the Hudson Valley…  
  • 09-30-2011
    More Papers Implement Online Subscription Pay
    Will the Washington Post be the last newspaper providing its content online for free? In the wake of the success of the New York Times’ "metered" online subscription model, a…  
  • 06-30-2011
    New Private Equity Player Enters in Ohio
    Versa Capital Management entered the newspaper industry with its May acquisition of Ohio Community Media, the newspaper group formerly owned by Brown Publishing. Versa is a private equity firm based…  
  • 06-30-2011
    Brown Publishing – A Look Back
    Looking back at the Brown family’s history and prominence in Ohio politics and newspapers. Newspapers and politics were long the lifeblood of the Brown family in Ohio. Clarence J. Brown…  
  • 03-31-2011
    Post-Bubble, Household Growth Still Expected on the Coasts, Rockies and Sunbelt
    A look at growth trends by county projected for the next five years Sunshine still rules The housing bubble might have burst in places like Tucson and Naples, but forecasters…  
  • 03-31-2011
    Keeping up with the Robinsons
    In July 2009, in the midst of one of the most challenging advertising climates in modern times, the Robinson family of Waco, Texas made a significant investment in the newspaper…  
  • 01-01-2011
    Mezzanine Debt to Get the Deal Done
    by Thomas J. Buono, BIA Financial Network As most newspaper owners realize, it is a seller’s market. The number of newspapers is limited and the demand exceeds the supply. You…  
  • 12-31-2010
    Connie Wimer buys back Business Record
    Born in the small town of Merrill, Iowa, Connie Wimer moved to Des Moines in 1950 where she established herself as a competent, caring and sharing business leader. In 1981…  
  • 09-30-2010
    Brown becomes Ohio Community Media
    The senior lenders to the former Brown Publishing Co. took control of most of the company’s publishing assets in September at the conclusion of a bankruptcy auction. The lending group…  
  • 09-30-2010
    Delphos strengthens long-held Midwest holdings with Brown auction win
    At 81-years-old, Brooklyn-born Murray Cohen is no stranger to the newspaper business. After earning a journalism  degree from the University of Missouri and spending two years in the army, Cohen…  
  • 06-30-2010
    Lender-Owned Companies Vault into Second Place
    A new breed of "unintentional" owners has moved into the newspaper industry. Banks, other lenders and distressed debt hedge funds have gained ownership in major newspaper companies through recent bankruptcy…  
  • 06-30-2010
    Stephens Exhibits Confidence with Newspaper Industry Investment
    Stephens Capital Partners is the principal investment arm for Warren Stephens and his family. They have been making equity investments in private firms for more than 50 years and have…  
  • 03-31-2010
    Newspaper Bankruptcies: What are the implications?
    Ten separate group owners of 165 daily newspapers have filed for bankruptcy protection under Chapter 11 in the past two years. As a result, it is likely that nearly $10…  
  • 03-31-2010
    Circulation Trends: Boring is the new sexy
    Hot growth markets used to be all the rage. But research by Dirks, Van Essen & Murray shows that newspapers serving smaller, rural and/or slow-growth communities tended to hold circulation…  
  • 03-31-2010
    Miller adds suburban Phoenix cluster
    It didn’t take long for the entrepreneurial bug to bite Randy Miller. In 1977, with a master’s degree in journalism from the University of Missouri and a few months under…  
  • 12-31-2009
    Radio and Broadcast TV Sink Too
    The newspaper industry wasn’t alone in having a dismal 2009. Local broadcast television and radio stations lost about a fifth of their revenue compared with 2008 – a little better than…  
  • 06-30-2009
    Integrated Newspaper Audience
    Top 10 markets reach more than 80% of adults In the third week of June 2009, one out of ten adults in America watched one of the four evening network…  
  • 06-30-2009
    Burrough reaches deeper into Michigan’s Thumb
    Newspapering had always been in Rick Burrough’s blood, but it wasn’t until this decade that he expanded his commercial printing empire in Michigan into newspaper ownership. With the recent purchase…  
  • 06-30-2009
    Local Businessman and Philanthropist Wades into the Newspaper Business
    Clifton Robinson knows something about risk. During his 50-year business career he has started, acquired and sold a number of insurance companies. Most recently he sold his National Lloyds Insurance…  
  • 06-30-2009
    Family-owned Southern Newspapers expands holdings with acquisition of two Texas dailies
    With the addition of the Lufkin (TX) Daily News and Nacogdoches (TX) Daily Sentinel, Southern Newspapers Inc. and its affiliated companies now operate 17 newspapers, with 11 in Texas, four…  
  • 03-31-2009
    DOA for JOAs? Newspaper closures continue trend of dying JOA publications
    The closings of venerable newspapers this year in Denver, Seattle and possibly Tucson have generated more than their share of hand-wringing in the national press. "Extra! Extra! Are newspapers dying?"…  
  • 03-31-2009
    A Second Chance: Michael Schroeder steps in as two Connecticut dailies face closing
    The Bristol Press and The Herald of New Britain were just two weeks away from being closed by Journal Register Company when Michael Schroeder surfaced as a buyer for the…  
  • 12-31-2008
    Number of dailies sold in last three recessions and just prior to the recession
    The number of dailies sold in the year leading up to the recessions of 1992 and 2001 followed the same pattern seen in 2007-2008. In 1990 46 dailies exchanged hands,…  
  • 12-31-2008
    Outlook for U.S. Newsprint Pricing
    Heading Lower, But When? David Allan is the owner of Allan Consulting, which publishes the Newsprint Tracker© forecasts and commentaries. For seven years, his firm has provided market guidance for…  
  • 12-31-2008
    Turner Keeps His Focus on Rural Newspapers
    For an old news guy, Jerry Turner has done OK on the business side. Since leaving the relative comfort of the editor’s chair in the mid-1990s, Turner has bought and…  
  • 09-30-2008
    Radio and Television Deal Volume Slows
    Transaction volumes fall by 40% and 60% The newspaper industry isn’t alone: Radio and television deal volume is down significantly in 2008 as well. Based on announcements through the end…  
  • 09-30-2008
    1978 vs 2008: Who were the biggest players?
    Only seven of the top 25 Fortune 500 companies in 1978 are still on that list today. A number of energy and financial companies merged and moved up on the…  
  • 09-30-2008
    Moser Gets Bigger by Thinking Smaller
    Texas community newspapers have always been a part of Jim Moser’s life. He grew up at the Brenham Banner- Press, where his father Charles has been the longtime publisher and…  
  • 09-30-2008
    Patience, Optimism and Stubborness Pay Off
    From 60% revenue growth to staff walkouts, Roy Bode reflects on the first two years of ownership On any given day on some news desk in America, a couple of…  
  • 06-30-2008
    Buy and Hold Mindset Still True
    Trends in Length of Ownership Reflect Areas of Intense Deal Activity By the standards of most industries, newspaper owners tend to have a lot of longevity. Even after record-setting deal…  
  • 06-30-2008
    Fall Off in Deal Flow Mirrors 2001 Recession
    With just eight daily newspapers finding new owners in the first half of 2008, there’s no question that the deal activity in the industry feels pretty slow. However, this situation…  
  • 06-30-2008
    Diversifying Portfolios
    Cozi, Kaango and Adify Among Names Added to the Mix Several newspaper companies have expanded their portfolios and offerings in the past year with strategic, non-traditional partnerships and acquisitions. Some…  
  • 03-31-2008
    Betty Weldon – Legendary Missouri Publisher and Horse Breeder
    Betty Weldon finished college at Mount Holyoke early so she could return to her family’s newspaper in Jefferson City, Missouri as the mostly male newsroom staffers left for World War…  
  • 03-31-2008
    Revenue Reset
    Differences in performance between large- and small-market newspapers and those in different parts of the country point to recession as the main driver of lower 2008 ad revenue. However, newspaper…  
  • 03-31-2008
    Local Ownership Returns to Yankton
    After 30 years of group ownership, the Yankton (SD) Press & Dakotan is once again locally owned. A management buyout was completed this quarter, led by current publisher Gary Wood…  
  • 03-31-2008
    Newspaper Distribution Key to Magazines’ Success
    Publishing Group of America, better known by its publications American Profile, Relish and soon to be launched Spry, owes much of its success to the audience it reaches via newspaper…  
  • 12-31-2007
    A Look Back
    25 Years Ago In 1982, 32 daily newspapers were sold — about half the number sold in each year of the prior decade. Morris Communications surprised the industry with its…  
  • 12-31-2007
    Outlook 2008
    By John Janedis, Wachovia Capital Markets, LLC Operationally, last year was disappointing for the industry, in our view, as ad revenues sank much further and more quickly than anticipated, in…  
  • 09-30-2007
    Deal Activity Heaviest in Midwest and Northeast
  • 09-30-2007
    A View from the Equity Side…and the Debt Side
    In light of the recent turmoil in the credit markets and questions surrounding its potential impact on the newspaper marketplace, we recently caught up with six executives who either currently…  
  • 09-30-2007
    Hersam Acorn Expands New England Footprint
    Hersam Acorn Newspapers had been waiting patiently for the right opportunity to substantially grow its business. The opportunity was finally realized in June this year when the company, based in…  
  • 06-30-2007
    Reynolds is Huntington’s Champion
    For Marshall T. Reynolds, patience has often paid off. When Reynolds tried to borrow $2,800 to buy new equipment for his young printing company, area bankers turned him down. He…  
  • 06-30-2007
    Big Names Disappearing from Public Arena
    Beginning with Dow Jones in 1963, the list of publicly traded newspaper companies only got longer with each passing decade.By 1970 there were eight U.S. newspaper companies of substantial size…  
  • 06-30-2007
    Yahoo’s Newspaper Partnership Expands
    The numbers are getting harder and harder to ignore. Internet ad revenues grew 35% in 2006 to nearly $17 billion and grew another 25% in the first quarter of 2007,…  
  • 06-30-2007
    Borrowers Have Their Day
    by Gretchen Gordon, Director, CIT Communications, Media & Entertainment It’s a great time to be a borrower, but be a smart borrower. We are in a time of incredible capital…  
  • 06-30-2007
    Marion Daily Helped Vault Gannett into Industry Lead
    The Marion (IN) Chronicle-Tribune, which was given as a gift from Gannett Co. Inc. to the Gannett Foundation recently, was one of seven daily newspapers Gannett acquired from Federated Publications…  
  • 06-30-2007
    Paxton Adds to Indiana Newspaper Holdings
    Marion Chronicle-Tribune Largest of Paxton’s 10 Daily Papers in Indiana Paxton Media Group’s headquarters in Paducah, Kentucky is not far from the Indiana border, but it wasn’t until 1998 that…  
  • 03-31-2007
    Small Group Owners Show Best Circulation Results in 10-Year Study
    Plenty has been written about why newspapers are losing paid circulation: lack of immediacy, poor content and design, changing readership habits of the young, and on and on. Many pundits…  
  • 03-31-2007
    Who is Macquarie and Why Do They Like Small Market Newspapers
     What is Macquarie Media Group? Macquarie Media Group (ASX: MMG), a publicly traded investment fund listed on the Australian Stock Exchange, has the objective of acquiring, owning and managing a…  
  • 03-31-2007
    When the News is Free
    Guest Editorial by Walter E. Hussman, Jr., Publisher, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette "We have met the enemy, and he is us." This quote is appropriately attributed to the newspaper comic strip character…  
  • 12-31-2006
    Publishing Companies Ink Online Employment Ad Partnerships
    In an effort to stem the outflow of classified advertising to the Internet, protect their franchises and position for an inevitable future of coexistence with the web, most publishing companies…  
  • 12-31-2006
    Suburban Publishing Groups Keep Getting Bigger
    The ‘burbs got a lot of attention in 2006. Three companies assembled or added to suburban publishing clusters through acquisition to create some of the largest groups of their kind…  
  • 12-31-2006
    Outlook 2007
    by Paul Ginocchio, CFA, DeutscheBank To help us formulate an outlook for 2007, I recently spoke with senior executives from 14 privately held newspaper companies. These executives own or manage…  
  • 12-31-2006
    GateHouse Creates New Public Model
    Newspaper stocks down 30% to 40% or more over the past two years. Large companies under pressure from shareholders. Online competition increasing. Great time to bring a newspaper company public,…  
  • 12-31-2006
    Black Builds Large Cluster in Pacific Northwest
    With a couple of acquisitions in 2006, David Black has turned a nice community publishing operation into one of the nation’s largest suburban clusters. Black entered western Washington in the…  
  • 11-30-2006
    GateHouse Eyes Public Status
    With the disappearance in recent years of such venerable names as Knight Ridder and Pulitzer, and other companies under pressure from investors, the publicly traded newspaper company is starting to…  
  • 09-30-2006
    Right on Target
    When Los Angeles-based Target Media Partners agreed in September to purchase 19 publications in eastern Washington from Lee Enterprises, it marked the 38th acquisition for this growing publisher of classified…  
  • 09-30-2006
    Forum Cements Regional Hold with Online Offerings
    Central to Forum Communications’ plan of strengthening its regional media cluster in the Upper Midwest is its online strategy. Here, as with the traditional print and broadcast aspects of the…  
  • 09-30-2006
    Forum Grows with Large Daily Acquisitions
    Forum Communications’ acquisition of three daily newspapers earlier this year, which doubled its total daily circulation, expanded the company’s large regional cluster in the Upper Midwest. But more importantly it…  
  • 06-30-2006
    Largest Deal Volumes
    As of June 30, 2006 is Second Biggest Newspaper Deal Year  
  • 06-30-2006
    A GateHouse Powerhouse Takes Shape in Boston Burbs
    With the acquisition of two sizable newspaper groups in the greater Boston area, GateHouse Media has created one of the largest suburban operations in the country. With size, also comes…  
  • 03-31-2006
    McClatchy, Knight Ridder Combine Top Growth Markets
    Dirks, Van Essen & Murray’s Market Index has consistently ranked McClatchy’s existing portfolio of just a dozen daily newspaper markets at the top of the public companies in terms of…  
  • 03-31-2006
    Radio Merger Mirrors Newspaper Industry
    BIA Financial Network Report Like the newspaper industry, radio saw two of the largest operators merge in the first quarter of 2006, creating a new No. 3 player — Citadel…  
  • 03-31-2006
    Schurz Moves into Michigan with Purchase of Petoskey Daily and Other Publications
    Family-owned Schurz Communications closed at the end of March on its acquisition of the daily Petoskey (MI) News-Review and companion publications, marking its first foray into the state. Schurz, based…  
  • 12-31-2005
    Wall Street Sours on Newspaper Stocks as Threats from the Internet Multiply
    By Lauren Rich Fine, CFA, Merrill Lynch A Litany of Negatives — Loss of Share, Declining Circulation Newspapers have lost share of US ad dollars for almost 50 years, having…  
  • 12-31-2005
    Coming Soon: Online Competitors
    Classified advertising revenue numbers held up pretty well in most cases in 2005, with gains in recruitment offsetting difficult comparisons in automotive. So it might be understandable if publishers breathed…  
  • 12-31-2005
    Bradley Family Builds Suburban Kansas City Cluster
    The owners of the St. Joseph (MO) News-Press have assembled a significant weekly group in the Kansas City suburbs through a series of acquisitions over the past 18 months. The…  
  • 12-31-2005
    Ownership Changes Leave a Consolidated but Still Competitive Landscape in SE Michigan
    Southeastern Michigan has been one of the most active regions in the country in terms of ownership changes over the past decade. In 1995, the print landscape was highly fragmented,…  
  • 10-01-2005
    100 Years of Newspaper Ownership – Part 4
    1981 Chicago Tribune bought Chicago Cubs from Wrigley Family. 1981 Ted Turner predicted demise of newspapers in ten years. 1981 Nackey Scripps Loeb assumed control of Manchester (NH) Union-Leader upon…  
  • 10-01-2005
    Number of Independent Dailies Steadily Declines
    In the last three months, five independently owned daily newspapers announced they were selling to a newspaper group. Last year nine independents sold to groups. This consolidation of ownership of…  
  • 07-01-2005
    100 Years of Newspaper Ownership – Part 3
    1956-1980 1956 The Chicago Tribune acquired the afternoon Chicago American from the Hearst Publishing Corporation for $11 million. 1957 Long litigation against the Kansas City Star under anti-trust laws resulted…  
  • 06-30-2005
    New Media Back in Vogue at Public Newspaper Companies
    Newspaper companies are looking once again at electronic media and technology companies that complement the printed page. But unlike five years ago, when Internet companies seemed to be valued as…  
  • 05-04-2005
    100 Years of Newspaper Ownership – Part 2
    1931-1955 1932 Victor, Bernard and Joseph Ridder sold their 51% interest in the Long Island (NY) Press to S.I. Newhouse. 1933 New Orleans became a two-ownership newspaper city when L.K.…  
  • 04-01-2005
    Conversation with Lee Dirks
     A Look Back Over 25 Years 4/1/2005 Lee Dirks, founder and chairman of Dirks, Van Essen & Murray, reflects on a quarter century leading the industry’s most active M&A firm…  
  • 04-01-2005
    Gannett Cleared to Complete HomeTown Deal
    Federal antitrust officials ended their inquiry into Gannett’s acquisition of HomeTown Communications Network, clearing the way for the nation’s largest publisher to buy strategic newspapers in its southeastern Michigan and…  
  • 03-31-2005
    Legacy of Carmage Walls
    There was little remarkable about Macon, Georgia’s two daily newspapers in 1940. The newspapers had new owners, and a new publisher was on the scene. Otherwise, the people who worked…  
  • 01-06-2005
    100 Years of Newspaper Ownership – Part 1
    1905 Colonel Ira Clifton Copley, at the age of 41, bought his first newspaper, the Aurora (IL) Beacon, partly to help his political career. He began serving his twelve years…  
  • 01-01-2005
    Owners Building More and Bigger Clusters with Daily Newspapers
    While many companies still look for good acquisition opportunities outside of their current footprints, the desire to assemble groups of publications in geographic areas continues to drive a significant portion…  
  • 01-01-2005
    Advertising Revenue Outlook 2005
    Significant structural changes, whose importance has been disguised by recession and a stop-and-go recovery, will begin to make themselves evident in 2005. Growth will be harder to come by, and…  
  • 01-01-2005
    Classified Outlook 2005
    by Jim Townsend, Editorial Director, Classified Intelligence As a publisher, you face the same challenges in 2005 that you did in 2004 – a slow slog through a marshy economy…  
  • 10-01-2004
    Are Telephone Books a Good Fit for Newspapers?
    Some newspaper companies have enjoyed strong revenue growth publishing independent telephone directories. But others have experienced disappointment. Publishing telephone directories has been little more than a small side business for…  
  • 07-01-2004
    Are the "Best Places to Live" Also the Best Newspaper Markets?
    Not Necessarily. Competing Publications Are a Big Factor  Is your city or town one of the "best places to live" in the U.S.? Regardless of whether or not your hometown…  
  • 07-01-2004
    DV&M Market Index: Does High Household Penetration Equal High Value?
    …Not Necessarily Given the choice, any publisher would take higher household penetration over lower penetration, but does higher household penetration directly result in higher newspaper value? This question is as…  
  • 04-01-2004
    Hispanic Newspaper Market
    Newspaper Owners Speak Spanish Can there be any room left on this bandwagon? It seems as if every day another Hispanic newspaper is launched. Indeed, there are now more than…  
  • 04-01-2004
    Equity Investments Come Flooding In: Private Equity Roundtable
    Rossetti: We like the local advertising space a lot, and we think that the advertising cycle is going to turn up eventually. Debt financing is readily available, and the purchase…  
  • 01-01-2004
    Some Still Like It in the Afternoon
    P.M. Dailies Hold Values, Continue to be Strong Despite Changing Times When Dean Singleton’s MediaNews Group in May acquired substantially all of the economic interest in the York, Pennsylvania joint…  
  • 01-01-2004
    Free, Free, Free, Dailies!
    In a year with a relatively modest amount of newspaper merger-and-acquisition activity, new free-distribution papers have sprouted up all over the country. The combined new daily free distribution in 2003,…  
  • 01-01-2004
    Outlook 2004: Cautious Optimism
    By Lauren Rich Fine, CFA, Merril Lynch We enter 2004 cautiously. After several years of results coming in weaker than originally anticipated, 2004 has the potential to be a better…  
  • 01-01-2004
    Are Banks Back? A Lending Roundtable
    Dirks, Van Essen and Murray chatted separately with five media bankers to discuss the present state of the lending market. The group of lenders were Vipa Chiraprut, Vice President, Wells…  
  • 01-01-2004
    Management Buyout Leads to New Company
    Anthony Allegretti had been looking for an opportunity to start a new publishing company since 2000, when the last one he built was sold to two large newspaper groups. His…  
  • 01-01-2004
    Newspaper Websites: Can They Compete?
    An Interview with Sammy Papert III DV&M: Generally speaking, what has Belden research shown regarding the local traffic of a newspaper’s website compared with other local websites? Papert: Local area…  
  • 12-31-2003
    Cullis Family Adds Daily to Publishing Group in Ohio
    When Christopher Cullis brought the daily Northwest Signal in Napoleon into his northwest Ohio publishing group in November, he knew he would be adding value to his company. What he…  
  • 10-01-2003
    Old Market or Young Market — Which Do You Prefer?
    Dirks, Van Essen & Murray looked at the median age in all counties in the U.S. where a daily newspaper is published. We identified the 10 oldest and the 10…  
  • 10-01-2003
    Consequences of Putting Proposed Media Ownership Rules on Hold
    By Thomas J. Buono, Chairman and CEO, BIAfn Uncertainty again reigns throughout the media industry. On September 3, the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals put significant business plans, financing discussions…  
  • 06-30-2003
    Journal Communications Files for IPO
    Journal Communications Inc., owner of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and other media businesses, has announced plans for an initial public offering of stock that would give the company greater flexibility…  
  • 06-30-2003
    Repeal of Newspaper-Broadcast Ownership Ban?
    by Thomas J. Buono, BIA Financial Netword On June 2, 2003, some 30 years after adopting the ban on local newspaper-broadcast ownership, and nearly seven years after Tribune petitioned the…  
  • 03-31-2003
    Cycles: Ready for a Jump-Start?
    The newspaper industry has been in a funk for two years, with soft advertising volume that mirrors the soft national economy. The story has been much the same for newspaper…  
  • 03-31-2003
    DV&M Market Index: Top Growth Markets
    The DV&M Market Index uses a weighted blend of historical and projected growth rates in households, population, effective buying income, and retail sales to rank daily newspaper markets. The top…  
  • 03-31-2003
    Easing of Cross-Ownership Rules May Be Coming Soon
    by Thomas J. Buono, BIA Financial Network A long-anticipated loosening of the ban on owning newspapers and broadcast properties in the same markets appears to be headed for approval at…  
  • 01-01-2003
    Household Penetration – What Makes the Difference?
    Why is it that household penetration of daily newspapers varies more than 25 percentage points between the states of Colorado and Georgia? Why do the states in the top quartile…  
  • 12-31-2002
    Retail Sales Growth by County
    Ten years ago, author Joel Garreau, then senior writer for the Washington Post, coined the term "Edge Cities" in describing new cities springing up throughout the country. His book of…  
  • 12-31-2002
    Gannett Continues to Expand in UK with Scottish Acquisition
    While it hasn’t gotten much attention in the U.S., Gannett has quietly amassed a substantial newspaper group in the UK in a little more than three years. After Gannett consummates…  
  • 12-31-2002
    These are the Good Old Days
    by Kevin Gruneich, CFA "We can never know about the days to come, but we think of them anyway. And I wonder if I’m really with you now, or just…  
  • 12-31-2002
    Radio Transaction Marketplace
    by Thomas J. Buono, BIA Financial Network Cross-ownership rules restricting the ownership of newspapers in combination with either television or radio stations in the same market currently are under review…  
  • 12-31-2002
    Acquisitions Paying Off in St. Louis
    Spun off as a separate, newspaper-only company in 1999, Pulitzer Inc. found itself in the enviable position of having $550 million in cash and no debt — bounty from the…  
  • 12-31-2002
    Anniston, Alabama Owners to Establish Non-Profit Foundation
    Owners of the Anniston Star and the Talladega Daily Home in Alabama recently announced a plan to secure local ownership of the dailies well into the future by establishing a…  
  • 09-30-2002
    Canadian Ownership Landscape Shifts with Deals
    Canadian newspaper publishers juggled properties and ownership stakes in the third quarter as the fallout continues following the large sales of Canadian newspapers by Hollinger and Thomson two years ago.…  
  • 09-30-2002
    The Television Transaction Marketplace
    by Thomas J. Buono, BIA Financial Network The television industry consists of more than 1,240 full-power commercial stations that generated more than $19 billion in advertising revenues in 2001. There…  
  • 06-30-2002
    Liberty Plans to Go Public
    Liberty Group Publishing plans to become the first newspaper company to go public since Journal Register Co. ("JRC") in May 1997. Liberty burst onto the newspaper scene that same year…  
  • 06-30-2002
    Sandusky Strikes Quickly with Right Opportunities
    Sandusky Newspapers, Inc., has not been the most active company in recent years in terms of daily newspaper acquisitions, but the 133-year-old family-owned company is a patient player that strikes…  
  • 06-30-2002
    Family Grows with Big Acquisition
    New Generation Takes Bold Step in Lawrence Chip Rogers didn’t expect the opportunity to come so soon. But when it did, the fourth generation scion of a venerable newspaper family…  
  • 03-31-2002
    Family Tradition Will Continue in Watertown, SD
    United Communications, Corp. of Kenosha, Wisconsin purchased the Watertown (SD) Public Opinion at the end of February. The Public Opinion is the third daily the company owns, joining the flagship…  
  • 03-31-2002
    Shepherd Grows Southeast Michigan Group
    21st Century Newspapers has added another important segment in its drive to build what has become one of the nation’s largest suburban publishing groups. The company, whose publications circulate primarily…  
  • 03-31-2002
    Lee Poised for Additional Acquisitions
    Lee Enterprises’ acquisition of Howard Publications is what the Wall Street types like to call a "transforming event" for a company. In a single stroke, the transaction will increase the…  

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