Cox takes Statesman off the market
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Thursday, August 06, 2009
The owner of the Austin American-Statesman has taken the newspaper off the market after deciding that offers it had received did not reflect the value of the company.
The Statesman will operate as part of Cox Media Group, a publishing, digital media and broadcasting subsidiary of Atlanta-based Cox Enterprises.
“Cox Enterprises said from the beginning that it would not preside over a fire sale,” Statesman publisher Michael Vivio said Thursday. “This is a profitable company, and it just did not make sense to sell it for the prices offered.
“We look forward to continuing our pursuit of excellence as journalists, as a media company and as a partner with our customers,” Vivio said.
Cox put the Statesman and 28 other daily and weekly newspapers on the market in August 2008 and has sold most of them, including the Waco Tribune-Herald, The Lufkin Daily News and The Daily Sentinel in Nacogdoches, Texas. The Longview News-Journal and The Marshall News Messenger remain for sale.
Vivio said the past year has been a difficult one for Statesman employees.
“We’ve managed to get a lot done nonetheless, and it’s a tribute to their entrepreneurial spirit and hard work,” Vivio said.
In the past year, the Statesman has finished work on a $36 million expansion of its packaging facility to make it more efficient. It also has launched weekly newspapers in Leander and Cedar Park, and its web sites have achieved the top ranking nationally in market share for a daily newspaper.
During the time it was for sale, the Statesman grew its total audience, in print and online, by 5.7 percent.
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