Community Publishers of Bentonville Sells Arkansas, Missouri Newspapers
by March 16, 2015 12:00 am 846 views
Bentonville-headquartered Community Publishers Inc. has sold its eight newspapers in Arkansas and Missouri, as well as its commercial printing operations in Missouri and Oklahoma, to Phillips Media Group LLC of Harrison.
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Publications involved are the Harrison Daily Times and Newton County Times in Arkansas, as well as the Bolivar Herald-Free Press, the Buffalo Reflex, the Cedar County Republican, the Christian County Headliner, the Marshfield Mail and the Nixa Xpress in Missouri.
PMG, led by chief executive Ryan Phillips, also purchased the Nowata West commercial print operation in Nowata, Oklahoma, and the Nowata East commercial printing operation in Springfield, Missouri.
CPI holdings now include seven newspapers in Oklahoma — the Broken Arrow Ledger, the Coweta American, the Owasso Reporter, the Sand Springs Leader, the Skiatook Journal, the Wagoner Tribune and the Tulsa Business & Legal News.
CPI was also the former owner of the Northwest Arkansas Times (Fayetteville) and Benton County Daily Record (Bentonville), plus 13 weekly newspapers in Benton and Washington counties. They were sold in 2005 to Little Rock publisher Walter Hussman, founder of Wehco Media Group.
The company was founded in 1982 by Jim Walton, son of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. founder Sam Walton, and Steve Trolinger.