Post-Bulletin sold to Fargo publisher
The fate of the Rochester Post-Bulletin now rests in the hands of a Fargo-based publisher.
It was announced Thursday that the paper, the largest in southeast Minnesota, has been sold to Forum Communications. Terms of the deal, which takes effect June 1, were not disclosed.
The sale does not include the P-B’s downtown office and plant facility. The paper’s longtime owner, Small Newspaper Group, had put the property, located in a high-demand area in the Destination Medical Center district, on the market last year. The future of the site remains unclear.
According to a report published on the Rochester paper’s website, outgoing Post-Bulletin President Len R. Small told employees this week that the new owners are “worthy custodians” of the company.
Forum communications, based in North Dakota, owns 36 newspapers across the Upper Midwest, including the Forum of Fargo-Moorhead and the Duluth News Tribune. The family-owned company also owns several TV and radio stations, along with a commercial printing operation.
In a statement, Bill Marcil, Jr., president of Forum Communications, said the company looks “forward to building on the legacy of a similar family-owned news operation, working alongside the award-winning Post Bulletin staff to expand the footprint of our quality local news content.”
While there are still a number of yet-to-be-answered questions on how the transaction will affect the Rochester paper, Forum says it does expect to begin publishing the paper in Red Wing, where it already has a printing facility. As for content, Bob Collins of MPR News noted Thursday that Forum, the most dominant newspaper chain in Minnesota, has:
…gobbled up many of the state’s papers and created a “sameness” from paper to paper by using more regional material to fill space while reducing local staff, and letting algorithms drive their websites, which can make “top stories” out of two year old material.
Collins added that by moving into a relatively large media market, Forum increases its ability to bundle regional advertising.
Despite a number of setbacks in recent years, the Post-Bulletin remains a key player in regional news, with a purported daily circulation of 27,395.
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