New York Times Co. sells regional papers to Halifax

It’s been a time of change for the New York Times. The past few weeks have seen CEO Janet Robinson step down from her post, the newspaper’s email list mistakenly spammed, and hundreds of staffers signing an open letter complaining about compensation. More recently, the Times Co. announced that it’s selling 16 regional newspapers to Halifax Media Holdings for $143 million in cash. The company said the sale will allow it to focus on its core newspapers—the New York Times, the Boston Globe and the International Herald Tribune—and their digital efforts. Times chairman Arthur Sulzberger said in a statement that the sale “will enable the New York Times Company to continue our transformation to a digitally focused, multi-platform media company.” The company expects the net after-tax proceeds from the sale to be around $150 million, which seems “incredibly low,” Ken Doctor, a media analyst at Outsell, told Boston Globe staff. “That’s saying basically each title is worth about $10 million,” on average, he said, “which is just breathtaking when you consider what kinds of profit machines these newspapers used to be.”

Regional newspapers have been suffering, as they feel the pinch of lackluster local advertising, and because of that, some industry watchers applauded the move. “These newspapers have been a drag on overall results due to heavier reliance on local advertising which lags national advertising growth,” Morningstar’s Joscelyn Mackay told Reuters’ Soham Chatterjee. “Without these papers, the firm will be able to focus on its flagship New York Times and monetize its digital content.” Poynter’s Rick Edmonds said the sale is also a sign of increased dealmaking in the industry. “During the worst of the downturn when advertising was in free-fall, hardly any newspaper organizations changed hands,” he wrote. The timing of the Times’ move “matches a thaw in the climate for such transactions in recent months.”

• Times Co. Agrees to Sell Regional Newspaper Group (NY Times)
  
• Sale of New York Times regional newspapers a sign of increased dealmaking in industry (Poynter)
  
• New York Times agrees to sell regional news group (The Boston Globe)
  
• New York Times Co agrees to sell regional papers for $143m (The Guardian)
  
• Times Co. Agrees to Sale of Local Papers (Wall Street Journal)
  
• NY Times to sell regional newspapers for $143 million (Reuters)
  
• New York Times Sells Regional Media Group (Forbes)
  
• Halifax noncompete will not apply to New York Times Regional employees (Poynter)
  
• New York Times Will Sell Regional Media Group to Halifax for $143 Million (Bloomberg)