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TAMPA — Media General Inc., owner of The Tampa Tribune, announced it has sold the newspaper and its associated digital products to a private equity investment group. The sale, which closed today, was for $9.5 million, subject to adjustments for working capital and other items, yielding net proceeds before expenses of about $2 million, Media General says in a release.
Los Angeles-based investment firm Revolution Capital Group will take over operations of the newspaper starting today through a locally based company it created named Tampa Media Group. The sale includes the Tribune's smaller publications, Hernando Today, Highlands Today, Suncoast News, Sunbelt Newspapers and Spanish-language Centro.
Media General announced in February it was looking for a buyer for the newspaper group, which has experienced falling revenues the past few years. According to its annual report, revenues in its Florida market fell 15% in 2011, and its operating losses in the market were $17.9 million in the same year.
Robert Loring, Revolution Capital Group founder and managing partner, told a Tampa Tribune reporter his company is not focused on improving and reselling the newspaper, but owning it in the long-term. “We are definitely in this for the long haul,” Loring told the paper. “We don't flip businesses.”
Richmond, Va.-based Media General will retain television operations of News Channel 8, NBC affiliate WFLA. “It's a bittersweet day for Media General to complete the sale of its last remaining newspaper group,” Marshall N. Morton, president and CEO of Media General, says in the release. “With this transaction, we complete the transformation of Media General's business model to one focused on broadcast television and digital media.”
Tribune newsroom employees will move from the building it shares with WFLA to the building next door, where the newsroom was located in the 1970s, the Tribune reports. Although Media General asked the city to split the parcel it owns containing 200 and 202 S. Parker St., property records show no transfer of the property.
Media General purchased The Tampa Tribune in 1927 in a partnership, but owned 100% of The Tribune Co. by 1970. Recently, The Tampa Tribune underwent a large restructuring effort, including laying off 165 employees in December 2011, and hiring a new publisher in March.
On its website, Revolution Capital Group says it has experience acquiring and operating business in many sectors, including everything from media and publishing to oil and gas services. Some recent acquisitions in its portfolio include Lawrence Schiff Silk Mills, a Quakertown, Pa.-based manufacturer of ribbons and woven materials; CAP XG, a Valencia, Calif.,-based online software firm; and Dove Professional Apparel, a San Diego-based manufacturer and distributor of medical apparel and accessories.
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