CNHI Sells Newspapers in Picayune and Poplarville, Mississippi

By: Press Release | Dirks, Van Essen & Murray

Community Newspaper Holdings Inc. has announced the sale of The Picayune Daily Item and Poplarville Democrat to Picayune Newsmedia LLC.  

Dirks, Van Essen & Murray, a newspaper merger and acquisition firm located in Santa Fe, New Mexico, represented CNHI in the transaction.  Terms of the sale were not disclosed.  

Picayune Newsmedia is a subsidiary of Carpenter Newsmedia LLC, which is an affiliate of Boone Newspapers Inc.  Based in Natchez, Miss., and Tuscaloosa, Ala., Boone Newspapers owns and manages 46 community newspapers.  

Published since 1904, the 5,100-circulation Picayune Item prints five days per week and operates a community news website at www.picayuneitem.com.  The Democrat is a 2,000-circulation community weekly.  Both serve readers in Pearl River County, Miss.  

CNHI has operated the newspapers for more than a decade.
 
"It has been a privilege to be associated with the hard-working teams in Picayune and Poplarville," said Steve McPhaul, CNHI's executive vice president and chief operating officer.  "We wish our colleagues at Carpenter Newsmedia and Boone Newspapers all the best as they move forward in these communities."  

"We deeply appreciate the confidence CNHI has placed in us as their successors, and we will work hard to merit that confidence" said Todd Carpenter, president of Carpenter Newsmedia and Boone Newspapers.  "We look forward to working with Picayune and Poplarville staff to build on the strong foundations they have put down in serving readers and advertisers." 

CNHI is a leading provider of local news and information in more than 150 communities in 23 states. Its publications include award winning newspapers, websites and magazines.