Charlotte-based American City Business Journals, which owns and operates 40 business newspapers around the country, is the lead investor in a Web site company called ThePort Networks Inc., according to a story on the Atlanta Business Chronicle site.
The story states, “Atlanta-based ThePort helps nonprofit, trade association and media industries create and manage social networks. The company, which earned $800,000 in revenues last year, also operates a community of Web 2.0 sites.
“The Series B funding round was led by American City Business Journals of Charlotte, N.C., the publisher of Atlanta Business Chronicle.
“Existing investors included in the new round were Lee Enterprises, a newspaper publisher, Atlanta-based Imlay Investments, angel investor Robert Jetmundsen and ThePort’s CEO Bob Cramer.
“‘ACBJ recognizes that social media is going to be a key driver for the future of online publishing,’ Cramer said in response to e-mailed questions. ‘Today, having a stake in a social media platform company has many similarities to owning printing presses from years gone by.'”
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