UPDATED: Telegram Sold for Third Time in 14 Months
Friday, November 21, 2014
Now, the Telegram is sold again just months after the Halifax purchase and implemented dramatic cuts.
Boston Red Sox principal owner John Henry bought the Telegram & Gazette and the Boston Globe from the New York Times last year and pledged to find local owners for the paper, however, a deal to sell to a Worcester group fell through.
Halifax owns 35 newspapers across the country including the New York Times Regional Newspaper Group and the Telegram & Gazette was the company's first in Northeast. The entire Halifax group is part of the acquisition.
Jim Romenesko, media analyst and blogger published a copy of the Memo:
TO: GateHouse Media and LMG Employees FROM: Kirk Davis, CEO, GateHouse Media LLC RE: Halifax Media Asset Purchase Agreement Announcement DATE: November 20, 2014
I’m pleased to announce that New Media Investment Group Inc., has reached an agreement to acquire substantially all of the assets of Halifax Media Group. The sale is expected to close in early 2015.
The acquisition represents an exciting opportunity for GateHouse and LMG. The Halifax group includes 36 newspapers and affiliated websites, with a concentration in the southeast (Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, North Carolina and South Carolina). Also included is the Worcester Telegram and Gazette which strengthens our northeast presence.
If you are familiar with our footprint today, you’ll note that this is a major expansion into the southeast region of the country. From geographic diversification, to attractive demographics, strong regional economies and flourishing tourism, this acquisition brings tremendous benefits. Together, these publications will add total circulation of approximately 635K daily and 752K Sunday.
The properties bring an award‐winning heritage of strong, local reporting, including two recent Pulitzers. In 2012, The Tuscaloosa News (Tuscaloosa, AL) received a Pulitzer for its use of social media in breaking news coverage. The Sarasota Herald‐Tribune (Sarasota, FL), a Pulitzer finalist in 2008 and 2010, won in 2011 for an investigation into the state of home insurance in FL, with the series “Insurance Nightmare”. The Halifax papers are perennial top performers in regional, state and national news competitions.
On the business side, we’re confident that the opportunity we bring to grow their digital services revenue presents Propel Marketing, our digital services agency, with a wonderful expansion platform.
We look forward to welcoming the Halifax Media Group properties to our family!
Dan Kennedy, a professor of Journalism at Northeastern University, said in his blog, "GateHouse has a well-earned reputation for cutting staff and compensation, although that hardly makes it unique. The larger story is that its executives clearly believe it can be the last local-newspaper chain standing by centralizing every part of its operations that aren’t strictly tied to local news."
At the time of the acquisition in May, Halifax CEO Michael Redding said, "The T&G is an excellent local newspaper with a dedicated and talented staff. In 2012, we acquired the Regional Media Group newspapers of the New York Times, so the T&G will be aligned again with their former New York Times papers and will join the outstanding teams at Halifax. We look forward to the upcoming closing of the transaction."
The Telegram & Gazette was owned by the New York Times from 2000 through 2013.
Related Slideshow: Reaction to Telegram Staffing Cuts by New Owners
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