Austin American-Statesman Newspaper Put Up For Sale By Cox Media

AUSTIN, TX — Officials of Cox Media Group on Tuesday announced plans to put the Austin American-Statesman newspaper up for sale.

In an exclusive report only the Statesman could produce, the newspaper reported on itself in breaking the news to readers on Tuesday. The publication that employs more than 200 people, officials said, will be put on the market with its seven community newspapers (such as the Pflugerville Pflag and Round Rock Leader) and multiple websites. The Cox Media sale also includes the Palm Beach Post and Palm Beach Daily News in Florida, officials said.

Cox Media Group President Kim Guthrie said in a statement the decision toe sell the papers is part of a strategy centered on markets where Cox has multiple media assets.

“After careful consideration, we have made the difficult but strategic decision to put our newspapers in Palm Beach and Austin up for sale,” Guthrie said. “We have made the decision that we will be better equipped to operate our newspapers in Atlanta and Ohio, where we have the integrated opportunity with our TV and radio operations.”

Guthrie and other company executives made the announcement in West Palm Beach, Fla., on Tuesday morning, officials said. Plans call for them to arrive in Austin Tuesday afternoon to speak with employees personally about the imminent sale.

“When Kim called last week to share this decision with me, she made it clear that this is not a reflection of the value the Statesman delivers to our readers, to our advertisers and to CMG,” Publisher Susie Gray Biehle told employees in a memo. “While I am sad to leave the Cox family, I am optimistic about the future for the Austin American-Statesman because of the strength of our brand, the quality of the journalism that we do and the talent of the people.”

Privately held, the Austin newspaper has been put up for sale before. In August 2008, the paper was put on the market only to have company officials decide to keep it as part of a cog in a converged, multi-media strategy involving television and radio.

In December 2015, the company sold the lakefront property housing the newspaper to a family entity associated with Cox Enterprises, officials reminded in their statement. The entity has since hired Austin-based Endeavor Real Estate Group to create a redevelopment plan for the 18.9-acre site at the piece of prime downtown real estate that's long been the newspaper's home.

In an age where consumers largely receive their news and information from Internet-based sources, the Statesman has been beset with the type of challenges facing the newspaper industry as a whole marked by dwindling readership. In 2015, the newspaper cut about 100 jobs at its printing operations in a cost-cutting measure to roll out from shared presses in Houston and San Antonio, as Culture Map and other media outlets reported at the time.

Still, the newspaper continued a seven-day-a-week publication schedule and distribution, but printed by Hearst Newspapers, which publishes the San Antonio Express-News and Houston Chronicle.

“This strategic business decision allows us to reduce expenses and be more efficient and flexible going forward,” Statesman Publisher Susie Ellwood said at the time. “And it helps us continue to do what we do best, being the most essential news, information and advertising source for Austin and Central Texas.”

The BattleSwarm blog wrote of the newspaper's steady decline in circulation, despite publishing in one of the nation's fastest-growing metropolitan areas. In his blog, Lawrence Person laid out the circulation numbers to illustrate the sliding circulation figures. The figures represent daily, not Sunday, circulation over the years:

"The Statesman has been in a long, steady decline in staff as well," the blog noted. "They bought out 71 employees in 2009, another accepted by 33 people in June of 2011, and laid off an additional 53 employees in October 2011. And even after that, more copy editing jobs were to be consolidated in Florida by Cox Media."

On its website, Atlanta-based Cox Media Group displays the Statesman's logo among four of other assets as illustrative of some of its properties under the headline "We're proud of our brands. Here are a few." In December 2008, Cox Enterprises created Cox Media Group by merging Cox Newspapers, Cox Radio, and Cox Television into one integrated digital media company.

Among its newspaper holdings, Cox Media Group also owns the Atlanta Journal-Constitution; Dayton [Ohio] Daily News; Journal News [Hamilton, Ohio]; Springfield News-Sun [Springfield, Ohio]; as well as the aforementioned publications in Palm Beach, Fla.

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