Messenger Post Chain Up for Sale

By: The Daily Messenger and its stable of 10 suburban weeklies serving Rochester's suburbs have been put up for sale.

Messenger Post Newspapers, which employs 176 people, has already drawn unsolicited offers from other media companies and, if the right offer is made, the chain could be sold by the end of the year, Publisher George Ewing Jr. said.

"We as a company and I as an owner are at a crossroads," said Ewing, adding that he began entertaining offers in March and has retained a broker to handle a nationwide search for a buyer.

"The decision to sell our company is the most difficult decision I've ever made," Ewing said in an announcement to his staff Thursday. "My ties to our communities and our wonderful staff run very deep.

"We have built up our company to the point where it is a significant factor in the regional media marketplace. I am very proud of our accomplishments and the people who have worked so hard to get us where we are."

The Daily Messenger, bought by Ewing's father in 1959, has a circulation of more than 13,000.

Ewing has been publisher and owner since 1992, and his family bought nine of the weekly newspapers in 1996 and added a 10th in 1999. The combined distribution of the weeklies is just under 100,000.