PROVIDENCE – New Media Investment Group Inc., the parent company of the Providence Journal and The Newport Daily News, announced Tuesday that it has purchased the Austin American-Statesman and related niche publications and websites for $47.5 million.
New Media already operates a centralized copy-editing and page design center for many of its publications in the Texas capital. The American-Statesman has a daily circulation of 85,000 (the Journal has a daily circulation of 56,550, according to information on the company’s website).
“We look forward to working with Austin employees to further build upon their partnerships and carry on the strong local journalism they do in Austin,” said New Media CEO and President Michael E. Reed.
The transaction will be funded out of cash on hand, said the press release announcing the purchase and is expected to close early in the second quarter. New Media owns 142 daily publications and operates in more than 565 markets in 38 states.
On Feb. 28 the company posted a net loss for 2017 of $915,000, compared with net income of $31.6 million in 2016. Revenue for the year increased to $1.34 billion from $1.26 billion.
When it reported its 2017 results, New Media said that it paid $1.3 million for “substantially all of the assets” of E.A. Sherman Publishing Co., the former publisher of The Newport Daily News, The Independent, Newport Mercury, and South County Life and Newport Life magazines.
