Talking Biz News readers may remember when Charlotte Observer business journalists Ely Portillo and Caroline McMillan announced their marriage in a press release back in 2013.
Now, they’re pregnant. Here is the story:
BREAKING NEWS: PORTILLO CO. ADDING NEW STAFF MEMBER
CHARLOTTE – The Portillo Co. plans to expand by 50 percent with the addition of a new staff member in June 2018, according to sources with knowledge of the plans.
The additional personnel will be the first new member of the company since the Portillo-McMillan merger in 2013. Little is known about the new team member at this time, though speculation has swirled about whether the new addition will be a boy or a girl. Further details are expected to be unveiled in the coming weeks.
Co-chief executive officer Caroline Portillo confirmed the news in a statement.
“We are excited to welcome the newest member of the Portillo team this summer,” McMillan said. “We expect that he or she will initially focus on eating, sleeping and crying, before moving on to more complex tasks such as sitting, crawling and babbling.”
The new Portillo is not expected to immediately produce revenue, and may in fact be a charge against earnings, at least initially, co-CEO Ely Portillo said.
“But we expect that ultimately, over the coming decades, this new member of our team will be accretive to earnings, and his or her revenue could provide an important long-term hedge against inflation or liquidity crises,” Portillo said.
First and middle names are currently under consideration for the new Portillo, executives confirmed, and modifications to firm’s headquarters to accommodate him or her are underway.
The Portillo and McMillan firms merged in Sept. 2013, in a combination of two media brands that sent shock waves through the industry. Since then, the combined entity has diversified into magazines, with the inclusion of the SouthPark and Carolina Bride magazines to its portfolio, while also maintaining a strong focus on economic development and real estate reporting.
The company is widely regarded as one of the premier entities in local publishing.
“While the local media landscape remains challenging, we are confident that our expanded team will have the wherewithal to weather any storms,” Caroline Portillo said.
A source with knowledge of the plans, who was not authorized to speak on the record, expressed hope that the newest Portillo would diversify the company’s interests by pursuing medicine, engineering or law, though Portillo Co. would of course support him or her if they decided to enter media as well.
