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Hearst Corp. purchases San Antonio's Prime Time Inc.(San Antonio Express-News (KRT) Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) Dec. 1--The Hearst Corp., parent company of the San Antonio Express-News, has bought Prime Time Inc., a local chain of community newspapers started by Clear Channel Communications Inc. founder L. Lowry Mays in the 1970s. The purchase price for San Antonio-based Prime Time was not disclosed. "It's a win-win situation for everybody," said Tom Stephenson, publisher and president of the Express-News. "It's great for us, and it's great for Prime Time." When Prime Time President Bill Johnson, Mays' son-in-law, began with the company nearly 21 years ago, it consisted of just one newspaper, the Daily Commercial Recorder. It now has 18 publications, five offices, 150 employees and the Web site www.clickitsa.com. "The two companies together make one outstanding, formidable newsprint giant," Johnson said. "It's a great strategic move for both companies." Johnson will remain as a consultant for about six months. He's not sure what he'll do next, but he already has reserved the business name South Texas Little Guy, a tribute to his daughter Paige. Prime Time's chief operating officer, Gregg Rosenfield, will keep his title and report directly to Stephenson. Prime Time will be operated as a separate company, Stephenson said. In a letter e-mailed to Express-News employees Thursday, Stephenson said: "The future opportunities created by the merger of these two companies will further diversify our company, provide advertisers with additional ways to connect with customers, and give readers more publications tailored to their needs and interests." The Express-News approached Johnson about a possible sale early this year. Stephenson asked Johnson if he would like to meet for lunch at Club Giraud. "I thought it was just the new publisher trying to make nice," Johnson said. But Stephenson, who became publisher and president of the Express-News last December, wanted to ask if Johnson would consider selling the company he had helped build. "He caught me off-guard," Johnson said. "We definitely were not for sale." But with newspapers across the country fighting the Internet for advertising dollars and readers, he thought now might be a good time to accept Stephenson's offer. Stephenson said the Express-News stands to benefit from Prime Time's relationships with mom-and-pop advertisers and that Prime Time can benefit from the Express-News' relationships with larger corporate advertisers. And community news is growing, Johnson said. "People are always interested in their local news, and the only place to get that local news at this point is from newspapers like ours," he said. I think it's going to be a long time before neighborhood news makes it to the Internet." Linnea Kirgan, a business editor with market intelligence provider Hoover's, said the benefits of a deal like this include increased efficiency because of increased leverage in negotiating deals and lower administrative, production and distribution costs. For example, there are some places in which the Express-News and Prime Time try to fill the same niche. Each has its own magazine for travelers. One publication eventually may disappear, Stephenson said, but he added that those types of decisions haven't been made. Regardless, he said Hearst has "no intention of laying off people going into this deal." And ad rates at Prime Time publications aren't expected to rise. Stephenson said this acquisition is key to the Express-News' growth plans. "For our business to grow, we're going to have to grow horizontally," he said. "The vast majority of our growth has to come from non-core activities." To see more of the San Antonio Express-News, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.mysanantonio.com. Copyright (c) 2006, San Antonio Express-News Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News. For reprints, email [email protected], call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA. |