Acquisitions

OPC News LLC, formed by Graham, Kyle and Jack Osteen and a sister company to The Sumter (South Carolina) Item, has split into two companies. In the agreement, Graham Osteen, his wife, Julie, and their son, Hugh, now own two weekly newspapers based in the Jacksonville, Florida, area and another in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Jack and Kyle Osteen co-own a variety of weekly newspapers making up Gulf Coast Media in Baldwin County, Alabama. Osteen Publishing Company, which owns The Sumter Item and has been owned by five generations of the Osteen family since its creation in 1894, remains in the Osteen family.

As part of the company reorganization, several members of The Sumter Item’s leadership team are taking on expanded roles within Gulf Coast Media. Item Publisher Vince Johnson has been named group publisher of The Sumter Item and Gulf Coast Media. In corresponding moves, The Item’s executive editor, Kayla Green, will serve as executive editor of both organizations, and Micah Green has been named chief digital officer of both. Parks Rogers has moved from his role as publisher of Gulf Coast Media to serve the same role at the Lexington County Chronicle in Lexington, South Carolina. The weekly newspaper was also recently purchased by Jack and Kyle Osteen.

Champion Media of the Carolinas, a family-owned company based in Mooresville, North Carolina, has acquired the Herald-advocate, the community newspaper in Bennettsville, South Carolina. Champion Media is owned by CEO Scott Champion and President Corey Champion. The company currently owns more than 20 newspapers in six states. The Herald-advocate was sold by Marlboro Publishing Company, which is owned by Bennettsville native Elisabeth Mcniel and her husband, Dan. She represented the third generation of family ownership for the Herald-advocate.

Cherryroad Media Inc. has signed a definitive agreement to acquire 20 newspapers from Gannett Co., Inc. The newspapers, which include five dailies, are published in Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa and Missouri. This marks the largest acquisition to date for Cherryroad Media, which entered the newspaper industry in late 2020 with the purchase of the weekly Cook County (Minnesota) News-herald. It has since acquired four titles in Arkansas, one in Alabama, and started the Rainy Lake Gazette in International Falls, Minnesota, in July.

AT&T’S Warnermedia has sold the celebrity news and gossip brand TMZ to Fox Corp. The deal will see the tabloid founded by Harvey Levin operate under the Fox broadcast network umbrella.