Tampa FL Newspapers Merge

The Tampa Bay Times has purchased its cross-town rival, the 123 year-old Tampa Tribune. The Tampa Bay Times was already the largest newspaper in Florida, and with the acquisition becomes the fifth largest Sunday newspaper in the entire country. The paper was purchased from Revolution Capital Group, who has owned the Tribune since 2012 when it was purchased for $9.5 million. The most recent sale price was not announced by either paper. American Graphics Institute provides Adobe InDesign training and Photoshop training to the Tampa Bay Times which was previously known as the St. Petersburg Times.

As more advertising spending goes online, fewer cities are able to support multiple print newspapers. While originally covering different areas, the adjacent cities of Tampa and St. Petersburg, over recent years they were competing more for the same readers.  The Times indicated that the purchase of the competing Tribune creates a single newspaper that is financially sound.

In a statement the head of the Times newspaper said, “There are very few cities that are able to sustain more than one daily newspaper, and the Tampa Bay region is not among them.” Even where the newspapers themselves are not being combined, there has been a consolidation of ownership such as the Chicago Tribune and the Sun Times, both purchased by the same majority owner within the past year.

The larger Times will likely gain tens of thousands of new subscribers from the Tribune’s customer base, and is likely to layoff more than 100 due to overlapping job roles that extend across printing, distribution, circulation, and customer service.

In an effort to remain financially sound, the parent company of the Times has also undertaken efforts to reduce costs and increase revenue. One dramatic move was the sale of their building earlier this year for $19 million. Although the paper will remain as a tenant for the next 15 years. A similar move will be happening with the Boston Globe, who has announced their intention to move their news and business offices from an outlying area of that city to the downtown, and relocate printing to a new, more modern facility in the suburbs.