Texas Monthly Magazine Sold To Houston-Based Firm

AUSTIN, TX — The statewide magazine Texas Monthly has been sold for the second time in less than three years, officials at the publication announced on Tuesday.

Privately held Texas Monthly LLC, an affiliate of Enterprise Products Co. based in Houston, has purchased for an undisclosed amount. The purchase comes two and a half years after the publication was sold to Genesis Park, a Houston-based private equity firm founded by Paul Hobby. The chairman of both Texas Monthly, LLC, and EPCO is Randa Duncan Williams — Texas Monthly’s fourth owner since its founding by Mike Levy in 1973, according to a press advisory.

Levy previously sold the magazine to Indiana-based Emmis Communications in 1998, and that company sold it in late 2016 to Hobby. Williams told readers she plans to maintain the magazine's editorial integrity.

“I have been an avid Texas Monthly reader since I was a teenager,” she said in a prepared statement. “I especially enjoy the long-form storytelling that has helped earn the magazine fourteen National Magazine Awards—the industry’s equivalent of an Oscar—over its 46-year history. My family is delighted to provide the resources to support this iconic Texas institution, which is nationally recognized for its editorial flair. The journalistic integrity and quality for which Texas Monthly is known will remain unchanged as we build upon what Genesis Park has done over the past two years.”

In changing hands yet again, the magazine has been sold to an influential Texas family. Previous owner Hobby is the son of a former lieutenant governor of Texas and grandson of a past governor. Williams, 57, also is progeny of a family with deep ties to Texas, one of four children of the late oil billionaire and philanthropist Dan Duncan — founder of Houston-based Enterprise Products Partners , a publicly traded midstream energy company.

The magazine's new owners have deep pockets too; Forbes recently listed Williams as the ninth wealthiest person in Texas. EPCO, Texas Monthly’s new parent company, also owns various commercial real estate and ranching ventures, as well as a substantial stake in Enterprise Products Partners.

In a statement, Hobby praised Williams as a “quiet, smart, and decisive” leader. He added: “She loves Texas Monthly as much as anybody ever did. She can recall, paragraph by paragraph, Texas Monthly articles from ten years ago.”