The owner of the Newark Post and Cecil Whig has pumped up its Minnesota presence with the purchase of papers and websites in its home state of Minnesota.
Adams Publishing Group has agreed to purchase ECM Publishers Terms were not disclosed.
ECM has 50 publications reaching more than 600,000 households across central Minnesota and western Wisconsin. ECM was founded by former Minnesota Gov. Elmer Anderson, according to releases from Adams newspapers.
ECM gives Twin Cities-based Adams a presence in its home market.
Adams first purchased many of the holdings of American Consolidated Media, a company that had holdings in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Ohio and Maryland.
ACM had been owned by its lenders after its Australian radio owner turned over the debt-laden company to its lenders.
Adams has gone on to purchase newspapers in Idaho and other states and has grown into one of the nation’s largest community newspaper and website companies.
Adams has other holdings that include Camping World recreation vehicle services, as well as billboard companies.
Adams has also expanded into the radio business and now owns stations on the Delmarva Peninsula. It closed studio operations in Delaware and moved to Salisbury,MD.
The company has been able to buy media properties at prices that are far lower than they would have commanded a decade ago. Sales prices have cratered, due to long-running declines in advertising revenue and circulation that have not abated during the economic recovery.
Radio has seen similar trends, although the advertising decline has not been as large.
Gannett, the largest publisher in Delmarva and Delaware has undertaken a similar strategy by snapping up smaller media companies and making a run at the parent company of the Baltimore Sun and Los Angeles Times.
The company, now known as Tronc, has rejected Gannett’s offer, setting the stage for a possible takeover fight.
A similar strategy on a larger scale had been undertaken by investor Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway. However, the company has slowed down activity on the acquisitions front, with Buffett seeing no signs of a turnaround in revenues.
