Dow Jones agrees to purchase New England Business Bulletin

Ottaway Newspapers, which is a subsidiary of Dow Jones, has agreed to purchase the New England Business Bulletin, according to this item. I could not find an official release on the transaction on the Dow Jones home page or on PR Newswire.

The Business Bulletin is a monthly with 45,000 readers. The item I found said that the acquisition would likely heat up the competition between Dow Jones and Charlotte-based American City Business Journals, but right now, I doubt that seriously. This is the first regional business newspaper that Dow Jones/Ottaway has purchased, and American City has more than 41 weekly business newspapers across the country that are well entrenched in their markets.

That said, it’s interesting to note that the chairman of American City Business Journals is Ray Shaw, former president of Dow Jones. I wonder what he thinks about his former employer entering the regional business newspaper business.