Acquisitions
On Dec. 1, Steve and Cynthia Haynes sold Nor’west Publishing/haynes Newspapers, 42 years to the day after they purchased their first newspaper. Brothers Jesse and Lloyd Mullen, owners of Mullen Newspaper Company, worked with Haynes to acquire one daily newspaper, one twice weekly, four weekly newspapers and a market shopper product. The publications are based in Northwest Kansas. Jesse is the chief executive officer of Mullen Newspaper Company, and Lloyd is the chief operating officer. Mullen Newspaper Company Regional Publisher Frank Perea, who oversees the High Plains News division of Mullen Newspaper Co. in Nebraska and Colorado, was promoted to vice president and will act as the group publisher of both groups.
William Schroeder has sold Travelhost to Bridge News of Farmington, Michigan. Travelhost is a national travel magazine and website focused on business and leisure travel. The company was started in the 1960s and had been owned and operated by Bill Schroeder since 2013.
The Burlington (Iowa) Hawk Eye has been acquired by family-owned Burlington Multimedia, LLC, an affiliate company of Community Media Group headquartered in West Frankfort, Illinois. The paper had been owned by Gannett Co., Inc. The Hawk Eye, the oldest daily newspaper in Iowa, traces its roots to 1837 and is credited with giving Iowa its nickname as the Hawkeye State. The newspaper serves five counties in southeastern Iowa, as well as two in northern Illinois.
Parentco LLC has acquired the Bay Area Parent media properties from Dominion Enterprises of Norfolk, Virginia. Bay Area Parent magazine includes both electronic and print editions, an extensive network of electronic newsletters and the Bayareaparent.com website. Founded in 1983 and owned by Dominion Enterprises since 2000, Bay Area Parent is the greater San Francisco Bay Area’s premiere parenting magazine and family-focused digital marketing company.
The Nov. 29 edition of the Carroll Times Herald (Carroll, Iowa) was the final newspaper published by the Wilson and Burns families, the three-generation local owners of the publication for 93 years. The Sheldon-based Wagner family, well regarded for its award-winning flagship newspaper, The N’west
Iowa REVIEW, a growing portfolio of other publications, and its pioneering leadership in Iowa journalism and printing, officially took ownership Nov. 30 of the Carroll Times Herald and The Jefferson Herald, the second newspaper operated under the parent company, Herald Publishing. The
Dec. 1 edition of the Jefferson paper was the first issue under the new ownership. The deal also involves purchase of the area shoppers, The Advertiser and Bee, by the Wagner family’s newspaper company, Iowa Information.
Paxton Media Group has acquired six newspapers in North Carolina from Gannett Co., Inc. The titles include Lexington Dispatch, the Asheboro Courier-tribune, the Burlington Times-news, the Kinston Free Press, the New Bern Sun Journal and The Daily News of Jacksonville.
Times-journal Inc., a publisher of several newspapers, news websites and magazines in Georgia, has purchased six metro Atlanta newspapers from Southern Community Newspapers, Inc. The publications acquired by Timesjournal are the Gwinnett Daily Post, Rockdale Citizen, Newton Citizen, Henry Herald, Clayton News and the Jackson Progress-argus. The sale was announced by Times-journal Publisher Otis Brumby III and Michael Gebhart, president and CEO of SCNI. A seventh SCNI newspaper, the Albany Herald, will be retained by the company and be operated by Gebhart. In addition, Gebhart will remain employed by TJI as a senior adviser. The acquisition brings to 21 the number of Georgia newspapers and corresponding websites published by TJI. J.K. Murphy, VP of content with Times-journal, will serve as publisher of the newly acquired newspapers. Murphy previously worked for 17 years at SCNI in various executive positions before joining Timesjournal in 2015. He will continue to oversee news content throughout the expanded company.