May 23, 2024 – Carpenter Media Group (CMG) and CNHI, LLC announced today they have reached a preliminary agreement for CMG to acquire 10 newspapers spread across Alabama, Georgia, and Mississippi, as well as a print facility in Valdosta, Georgia.
Dirks, Van Essen & April, a media merger and acquisition firm based in Santa Fe, New Mexico, is representing CNHI in the transaction. Terms were not disclosed.
The titles acquired include The Meridian (MS) Star, Dalton (GA) Daily Citizen, Milledgeville (GA) Union-Recorder, Valdosta (GA) Daily Times, Moultrie (GA) Observer, Thomasville (GA) Times-Enterprise, Tifton (GA) Gazette, Athens (AL) News Courier, Cullman (AL) Times, and the St. Clair (AL) News Aegis.
Donna Barrett, CNHI’s president and CEO, said she is proud of what the newspapers and their teams have accomplished in serving their communities with meaningful local news. “It has been our honor to have these newspapers as part of CNHI.” Barrett said. “We know their good work will continue under Carpenter Media Group.”
Barrett added that newspapers are the heartbeat of local life and that CNHI remains strongly committed to community news. “We believe in local journalism and will continue serving that critical role in CNHI newspapers in 18 states.”
CMG is organized and driven to serve and develop communities through excellent local journalism, guiding the marketing and advertising of its small and medium-sized business customers and developing its team members to grow personally and professionally.
“We are pleased to succeed CNHI in ownership and responsibility for these institutions and the communities they serve,” said Todd Carpenter, chairman of CMG. “We have deep appreciation and respect for the leadership provided by Donna Barrett and her team, and we will work hard to build on the good foundations they put down in each place.” said Carpenter.
Prior to chairing CMG, Carpenter was a longtime CEO and director of Boone Newsmedia, Inc. (BNI), which, including CMG’s holdings along with its own, managed 85 newspaper titles, various magazines, websites and other businesses in 12 states. After separating CMG holdings last year from BNI and recent acquisitions, CMG now owns and manages over 160 titles in the U.S. and Canada.
For more information on Carpenter Media Group:www.carpentermediagroup.com
For more information on CNHI, LLC: www.cnhi.com
For more information on Dirks, Van Essen and April:www.dirksvanessen.com