Here's something I didn't expect to read today.
From Dispatch.com:
The Dispatch Printing Company has reached an agreement to sell its print publications to the New Media Investment Group Inc., based in New York, N.Y.
The sale includes The Dispatch, owned by the Wolfe family for 110 years; ThisWeek Newspapers, a collection of 24 suburban weeklies; and seven magazines, including Columbus Monthly, Columbus CEO and Capital Style.
The sale also includes three commercial properties: The Dispatch printing plant at 5300 Crosswind Dr., a five-story office building at 62 E. Broad St., and ThisWeek’s offices at 7801 N. Central Dr. in Lewis Center.
According to the article, the Wolfe family will retain its broadcast holdings WBNS-TV (CBS Columbus), WTHR-TV (NBC Indianapolis), RadiOhio Inc., etc.
The terms of the deal aren't immediately known, but despite the decay of newspapers, I'm still guessing it sold for quite a chunk of change. New Media Investment Group (odd name considering newspapers aren't exactly new media) must have a plan.
UPDATE (10:13 a.m.): Publisher John Wolfe has written a letter to the community:
Dear Loyal Readers,
For 110 years, it has been our family’s great privilege to own and operate a daily newspaper that grew to become central Ohio’s leading provider of news and information.
When our family purchased The Dispatch in 1905, Columbus had four daily newspapers. The telegraph, telephone and electric lighting were recent technological innovations.
With the development of radio in the 1920s and television in the 1940s and ‘50s, we were able to expand into these new lines of communications, and establish successful radio and television operations.
