The following excerpt was sent out from thesungazette.com:
Mineral King Publishing, parent company for The Sun-Gazette newspaper, inked a deal in mid-March that grew their business by three times and simultaneously expanded their reach into Fresno County. The purchase was effective as of May 1, but the deal has been a year in the making.
Mid Valley Publishing, the umbrella company of what was formerly the Reedley Exponent, Sanger Herald and Dinuba Sentinel among others, consolidated their individual newspapers into one product in 2019: the Mid Valley Times. The company also ran a commercial printing press, serviced legal notices and ran advertising in their paper. However, following the economic torrents of the pandemic and the passing of their publisher Fred Hall in March 2022, the company’s ownership group was weighing whether to close the entire operation. Fortunately Ellis and Myers were seeking a new opportunity to expand their brand of local journalism established by The Sun-Gazette in Tulare County.
Myers, who had been editor for The Sun-Gazette since February 2016, had agreed to become an owner of Mineral King Publishing in September 2022. Holding a masters in public administration the editorial direction of The Sun-Gazette has been a mix of community based news with a healthy dose of government focused coverage. He has been a pivotal part of the company since it nearly closed its own doors in October 2015, and then its recovery from 2016 forward.
After a fair bit of back and forth between Mineral King Publishing owners and Mid Valley Publishing’s six member ownership group, the two companies struck a deal to purchase Mid Valley’s operations. Inked on March 15, it was off to the races to complete a massive transition.
“When you think about everything a company does, and everything it has in terms of branding, vendors, employee documents, payroll services, etc. etc. it’s a heavy lift to make all those changes in six weeks,” Ellis said.
The newspapers have been run simultaneously by Myers and reporters in both their Exeter and Reedley office since July 2022. There should be little difference in terms of coverage for either product except for plans to add more support staff and reporters.
Read more here.
