New York Times Co in talks to sell 16 regional newspapers
20 Dec 2011
The New York Times Co yesterday said that it is in advanced talks to sell its Regional Media Group comprising 16 regional newspapers spread across the US Southeast and California to Halifax Media Holdings.
The sale comes just days after the unexplained and sudden resignation of Times CEO Janet Robinson.
The potential $150-million deal would give Halifax 14 dailies and two weekly papers including the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, The Ledger, Star-Banner, The Gainesville Sun and News Chief in Florida, Herald-Journal in South Carolina, and The Press Democrat in California.
The 16 newspapers have a weekday circulation of about 430,000, and the deal may fetch The New York Times Co between $150 million to $175 million, according to analysts.
Regional Media, run by Times Chairman Arthur Sulzberger's cousin Michael Golden, is expected to post 2011 revenues of around $260 million, down from $277 million in 2010.
Advertising revenue at the Regional Media Group has declined continuously since 2006 as readers switched to online publications. Its ad sales for the third quarter were $36.8 million, a drop of 9.7 per cent from a year ago, and circulation revenue was $18.3 million, down by 1.5 per cent.
The proposed deal will give Daytona Beach, Florida-based Halifax Media, which owns The Daytona-Beach News Journal, among other papers, Regional Media's papers that have collectively won five Pulitzer Prizes.
The sale would leave The New York Times Co with its flagship New York Times newspaper, the International Herald Tribune, the Boston Globe and the About Group, a network of informational websites.
