Cox Enterprises Sells Austin Newspaper For $47.5M

The Austin American-Statesman is being sold to New York-based publishing company GateHouse Media, executives said Tuesday, ending more than 41 years of ownership by Atlanta-based Cox Enterprises.

The purchase price is $47.5 million. The sale is expected to close April 2.

GateHouse Media, based in upstate New York, is the nation’s largest owner of daily newspapers across the country, with more than 10,000 employees.

Along with the Statesman, the sale includes the newspaper’s Spanish-language weekly newspaper ¡Ahora Sí!, and the Austin Community Newspapers group, which includes the Bastrop Advertiser, Lake Travis View, Pflugerville Pflag, Round Rock Leader, Smithville Times and the Westlake Picayune. Related digital offerings such as Austin360, 512tech and Hookem.com also are part of the sale.

Kim Guthrie

GateHouse publishes 130 daily newspapers, hundreds of community publications and more than 540 local market websites that reach more than 21 million people each week, according to the company. Based in upstate New York, the company is part of publicly traded New Media Investment Group.

In a written statement, Kim Guthrie, president of Cox Media Group, said the Statesman “has a long history of serving the Austin community through in-depth journalism and impactful outreach initiatives, such as the annual Season for Caring program.”

“During these times of disruption, we feel that (Cox Media Group) is better equipped to operate our newspapers in Atlanta and Dayton, where we also have strong TV and radio operations,” Guthrie said.

The Statesman, with a daily circulation of 85,000 and digital subscriptions of 16,786, will be one of GateHouse’s largest newspapers. The Statesman, a presence in Central Texas for more than 140 years, has been named Texas Newspaper of the Year three of the past four years by the Texas Associated Press Managing Editors.