Here's what we know about Sussman's plan to sell MaineToday Media
After owning Maine’s largest news organization for three years, Maine financier and philanthropist S. Donald Sussman said Tuesday he plans to sell MaineToday Media to a Camden media executive who has rescued foundering newspapers in the past.
MaineToday Media, which owns the Portland Press Herald, Morning Sentinel, Kennebec Journal and The Coastal Journal newspapers, announced to its nearly 400 employees Tuesday evening that the company’s board of directors has approved the sale of MaineToday Media to a company controlled by Reade Brower.
Between news reports and the company’s internal memo, here’s what we know so far:
The transaction is scheduled to close on June 1.
At that time, Brower’s company, MTM Acquisition Inc., will become MaineToday Media’s owner, according to the company’s memo, which was written by CEO Lisa Desisto. The company said details of its transition plan will be shared over the next month.
The sales price has not been disclosed.
No figure was provided in the company’s memo. But we do know this: When Sussman bought MaineToday Media in March 2012, he paid $3.3 million for a 75% stake.
No layoffs or major leadership changes are planned.
Brower told the Press Herald on Tuesday that he doesn’t plan any layoffs or major leadership changes as a result of the sale. “My history is not cut, slash, or burn,” he said. “Rather it is to invest and ask associates to do what is best for the team.”
The sale will help MaineToday Media clear two major hurdles.
The company’s memo said a majority of the sale’s proceeds will be used to retire MaineToday Media’s debt, which it cited as one of its largest challenges in becoming a sustainable business. The sale will also resolve the high cost of printing its newspapers on the company’s “expensive and aging presses.”
“The sale resolves the balance sheet problems as all proceeds from the sale are going to pay company debt, with the bank receiving the vast majority of the proceeds to retire its loan, and addresses the production challenge by putting the company in the hands of an experienced commercial printer and newspaper operator,” the memo said.
That experienced commercial printer is likely Brunswick-based Alliance Press. The Bangor Daily News noted that Brower and another partner in the deal, Chris Miles, former publisher of The Times Record, are partners in the commercial printer.
Unions are still evaluating the sale.
Tom Bell, a Press Herald reporter and president of the Portland Newspaper Guild, told the Bangor Daily News that his union is still assessing the impact of the sale. He said he is hoping to meet with Miles soon. The contract for the union, which represents 232 dues-paying members, has expired, but a provision allows the union employees to continue working under its terms indefinitely.
Bell said he is not sure what impact the sale will have on a separate union that represents MaineToday Media’s printing operation.
The sale will add four newspapers, three websites to Brower's media portfolio.
The sale will give Brower ownership of not just four newspapers, but also three websites, PressHerald.com, MaineToday.com and CentralMaine.com.
Brower already owns four newspapers in the Midcoast region, including The Free Press, The Courier-Gazette in Rockland, The Camden Herald and The Republican Journal in Belfast. The latter three newspapers were rescued by Brower in 2012 after their previous owner, Village NetMedia, folded and caused 56 people to lose their jobs.
Brower also operates a TV station and production studio in Rockport called VStv, which launched last year and serves the greater Knox and Waldo counties region.
The company is grateful for Sussman's $13 million investment.
The company’s memo revealed that Sussman has invested $13 million into MaineToday Media over his three years of ownership. The company’s gratitude for Sussman’s investment is clear in the memo.
“[It] enabled us to expand the newsroom in Portland, hire a results-driven marketing team, build a digital development team and upgrade every underlying system that supports our organization,” the memo said. “Most importantly, his support has enabled us to produce journalism of the highest quality in print and online.”
Sussman says he decided to sell because he accomplished his mission.
“My mission was to save the newspaper from bankruptcy, make some long overdue investments in this business, and provide some financial stability while they got back on their feet,” Sussman told the Press Herald. “That mission is largely accomplished so it’s time to turn it over and transition to the next chapter for MaineToday Media.”
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