Tulsa World Sold

[Townsend]

Tulsa World will be sold to BH Media Group

http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=11&articleid=20130225_11_0_BHMedi257516

BH Media Group today announced that it will acquire the Tulsa World from the Lorton family. The Tulsa World is a 95,000 daily and 133,000 circulation Sunday newspaper serving Tulsa County and the surrounding region.

The Tulsa World is the leading provider of local news and information for the Tulsa area. Tulsaworld.com is the largest and best read web site in Tulsa County and the surrounding area.

"The Tulsa World is a special newspaper in an outstanding market and we are honored to have the opportunity to own it," said Terry Kroeger, CEO of BH Media Group. "This is a great fit for our company, and we look forward for this region. We welcome the Tulsa employees into the BH Media family and are delighted to have the opportunity to work with them."

"The Lorton family has been great to do business with as we have worked toward this ownership transition," Kroeger said.

Robert E. Lorton Jr., Chairman of World Publishing Company, said, "Our family has been associated with the Tulsa World since my grandfather came to Tulsa in 1911. During these more than 100 years I believe there has been a symbiotic relationship between the World and Tulsa. Today the Lorton family passes along that community relationship to Berkshire Hathaway's BH Media Group, a company with a strong commitment to local news and community engagement."

"We see this is as a positive step for Tulsa and the Tulsa World. BH Media has the breadth and depth of commitment to support the dedicated employees of the World in the changing journalistic world in which we now live," Lorton said.

"This sale will strengthen the role of the World in this marketplace and assures a secure future for a local Tulsa World newspaper and, important to the Lorton family, an exciting future for our employees."

"Our family takes great pride in the Tulsa World and its many years of service to Tulsa and Oklahoma. The newspaper business has become a difficult business model within a changing society and in particular for local family owned newspapers. BH Media Group presents the best opportunity to continue a local paper that will serve this community, our friends and neighbors."

The sale is expected to close in March. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

BH Media Group, headquartered in Omaha, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway Company (NYSE: BRK.A and BRK.B). BH Media Group now owns 28 daily newspapers and related weekly newspapers in Nebraska, Iowa, Texas, Oklahoma, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Alabama and Florida.

Read more from this Tulsa World article at http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=11&articleid=20130225_11_0_BHMedi257516

[JCnOwasso]

Will be interesting to see how this unfolds.  I am even more curious how it came about.

[Conan71]

"Our family takes great pride in the Tulsa World and its many years of service to Tulsa and Oklahoma. The newspaper business has become a difficult business model within a changing society and in particular for local family owned newspapers. BH Media Group presents the best opportunity to continue a local paper that will serve this community, our friends and neighbors."

In other words: "We had the chance to cash out and we'll see you suckas on the flip-side!"

[swake]

Wow,

Not surprising I guess. I wonder how long they keep doing seven days of print.

A much better outcome than Oklahoma City got with the Oklahoman being sold to Philip Anschutz to be just be part of his right wing propaganda machine.

[rdj]

Didn't a poster here predict this recently?

[JCnOwasso]

Based upon my little experience with Buffett and FlightSafety, BH was pretty hands off primarily because they are buying because the business model worked.  They are not like Bain Cap, they are not trying to reorganize.  However, I am not sure about BH Media.

[sgrizzle]

Wow,

Not surprising I guess. I wonder how long they keep doing seven days of print.

A much better outcome than Oklahoma City got with the Oklahoman being sold to Philip Anschutz to be just be part of his right wing propaganda machine.

Bets that they had to get rid of the all of the unused square footage to make the deal go through?

[Teatownclown]

Had to cash out now. Walls caved in. Lorton's got too much in houses. You were given a heads up by ttc. You must read between
my line
s.

[Teatownclown]

 

Didn't a poster here predict this recently?

[swake]

 

The World was one of the very last family owned papers and has been laying off people for years. You only predicted the very obvious. The interesting thing here is who the buyer is.

[Teatownclown]

Sheesh snake... this drama may just be the tip of the iceberg.

[Townsend]

Sheesh snake... this drama may just be the tip of the iceberg.

Eh, hinting at rumors does nothing for anyone.

[carltonplace]

What does this mean for the building at Main St with the "earthquake damage"? Hopefully this is a stay of execution?

[Teatownclown]

Rumors? I hear you are one.

I suspect more fallout.

4 day a week paper?

When credit dries up....

[Townsend]

Rumors? I hear you are one.

I'm as real as the other people you're paranoid about.