CPI, Gray Matters Partner in Tulsa
by January 2, 2006 12:00 am 75 views
Community Publishers Inc. of Bentonville hired Gray Matters LLC, parent company of the Northwest Arkansas Business Journal, to manage and operate three of its recently acquired publications in Tulsa beginning Jan. 1.
Terms of the management contract were not disclosed.
CPI acquired the properties — the weekly Tulsa Business Journal, the weekday Daily Commerce & Legal News and the bi-weekly Guffey’s Real Estate Journal — in December as part of a buyout of 19 family-owned publications from Retherford Publications.
Gray Matters, a niche publishing and event-management company in Springdale, will also help manage the TBJ’s annual Book of Lists.
Michael R. Brown, executive vice president of CPI and a 22-year veteran of the company, will continue to serve as publisher of CPI’s 16 general-circulation weekly newspapers and shopping publication in the Tulsa metro area.
“Having an expert like Darin Gray and his team leading our efforts in Tulsa is a significant win for us,” said Steve Trolinger, CPI’s president. “We saw tremendous value in each of these specialty publications when we purchased them, and we are confident Gray Matters will help them find even better ways to serve their audiences.”
Gray, who is CEO and publisher of Gray Matters, said he is proud to work with a company like CPI that has such a long history of publishing success and a broad publication portfolio.
“Niche publishing and collaboration are the future of print media,” Gray said. “We are gratified that CPI values our expertise in business-to-business publishing, and we believe this strategic partnership will enable the Tulsa Business Journal and its sister publications to better serve their readers and customers.
“We hope to help replicate the success we have had in Northwest Arkansas through long-term relationships and must-read products that serve the unique needs and wants of B-to-B readers in the Tulsa metro area.”
In addition to the Northwest Arkansas Business Journal, available online at nwabusinessjournal.com, Gray Matters operates Northwest Arkansas Family magazine, Northwest Arkansas Guest Guide, Northwest Arkansas Newcomers Guide and the Northwest Arkansas Book of Lists.
CPI, which is primarily owned by Jim Walton, operates 29 separate publications in Arkansas, Missouri and Oklahoma. The company also owns a commercial printing facility in Harrison and Missouri Color Web, a state-of-the-art facility in Springfield, Mo.