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The Daily Star The Daily Star and five other papers in the Ottaway Newspapers Inc. group have been sold to a publishing firm based in Alabama. Community Newspaper Holdings Inc., bought the six papers Dow Jones & Co. put up for sale in August. Ottaway officials announced the sale Friday. "I am thrilled that CNHI is our new parent company, knowing several of the company’s leaders personally," said Al Getler, president and publisher of The Daily Star. "They are talented newspaper people dedicated to high standards at the local newspapers they operate." The price of the entire sale was $282.5 million, according to a news release from Dow Jones. An individual price for The Daily Star was not disclosed. Dow Jones will receive about $276 million when the sale closes; the closing is expected during the fourth quarter of 2006. The sale must take place by Dec. 31 before a $155 million tax credit would expire. Dow Jones has that credit as a result of a capital loss from 1998. The price was more than 11 times the EBITDA value, the release said. EBITDA is used in the media industry to evaluate the market value of properties. It is not used to measure financial performance. EBITDA stands for earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization. Dow Jones put The Daily Star and five other papers up for sale in August; those papers were in Plattsburgh, Danbury, Conn., Santa Cruz, Calif., Sunbury, Pa., and Traverse City, Mich. The sale of The Daily Star includes the Cooperstown Crier and the other publications associated with The Daily Star. "While the staff at The Daily Star and the Cooperstown Crier will miss the many friendships developed over the years at Ottaway Newspapers, we look forward to working with our new colleagues at CNHI," Getler said. "The next few weeks will be busy as we prepare for the change."Any possible changes to The Daily Star and the operation of the newspaper were not disclosed Friday. Editor Sam Pollak said he was "very impressed" with CNHI. "This is very good news," Pollak said Friday. "I’m extremely happy that The Daily Star will be able to continue its 116-year tradition of journalism excellence." Representatives from Community Newspaper Holdings, Inc. _ along with those from other newspaper companies _ visited The Daily Star as part of the sale process. Getler said CNHI President and Chief Executive Officer Donna Barrett noted her company’s dedication to quality journalism during her visit to Oneonta. ``This bodes well for Daily Star readers and the future of the newspaper," Getler said. CNHI was formed in 1997, according to its website. It owns more than 100 daily and nondaily publications across the United States. Those newspapers include five New York papers. The company also runs the CNHI news service. The Daily Star became part of Ottaway in 1944; Ottaway merged with Dow Jones in 1970. "This sale and the pending acquisition of Factiva (a Dow Jones and Reuters joint venture) are the latest examples of our commitment to transform Dow Jones from a company heavily dependent on print-publishing revenue to a more- diversified company capable of meeting the needs of its customers across all consumer and enterprise media channels, whether print, online, mobile or otherwise," Dow Jones CEO Rich Zannino said in a prepared statement. Money from the sale will be used to pay for the Factiva acquisition and to pay down debt. Dow Jones stock closed at $35.57 a share Friday; that was a 0.25 percent drop from Thursday’s close. |
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