The Telegram & Gazette was bought by Halifax Media Group, a company headquartered in Daytona Beach, Florida. While this expands Halifax Media’s reach to a sixth state and 36 papers and enlarges their company, it does nothing to tell local readers in Worcester County just what to expect from this outside Media Management Company, who they are or their goals.
Halifax Media Group is a privately held company that releases little to no information about their company. They do have a website for the company which outlines their investment strategy as, “to invest long-term capital in quality companies positioned in strong markets that are closely connected to the community” yet this does little to explain their goal in acquiring the Telegram & Gazette. They do not give interviews and do not comment on acquisitions or their company in general. Whilst this might seem odd, it might be a legal tactic to not get involved with any comments about their company. Most investment companies, like Halifax Media Group, will have a legal team on their side, ensuring that they are investing legally and complying with the correct regulations. If this company doesn’t already have a legal team, they should really consider visiting a website like https://www.sidley.com/en/us/services/securities-enforcement-and-regulatory/ to make sure they are abiding by the law and completing their investments legally. The company seems to have grown to success without any real communication with the public, so they must be doing something right. However, people just don’t know anything about the company. So, who are they and why the Telegram & Gazette?
Halifax Media Group’s CEO is Michael Redding. Mr. Redding is listed as having 29+ years in the publishing business. Before he founded his company, Redding Investments LLC, he was the classified ads manager at the Daytona Beach News-Journal, Halifax Media Group’s first acquisition. Some time between that job and forming Halifax Media Group to buy the News-Journal, Michael Redding bought and ran 3 newspapers which are now part of the 36 papers owned by Halifax Media Group.
One of Redding’s investment partners in Halifax Media Group are Stephens Capital Partners which, through affiliates, owns 11 daily newspapers in the western section of the country, including Las Vegas. The owner of Stephens Capital Partners is billionaire Warren Stephens of Arkansas. Stephens Capital Partners invests in media, technology and health care companies as well as other fields. Both the Wal-Mart IPO and the Superdome were capitalized with Stephens.
JAARSSS Media is located in Miramar, Florida and is the third partner in Halifax Media Group. Very little information is available as the company is privately held. It is listed as being founded in 2009 as an LLC and wholly owned by Phillips Financial Group, LLC, another investment company also listed in Miramar, Florida. As for Halifax Media Group itself, in an open letter in the News Journal readers, Michael Redding announced a “pro-business stance” for the paper.
This stance seems borne out by the company’s acquisitions followed by layoffs of editorial staff in their larger, less profitable acquisitions as well as a talent for buying smaller papers with no local competition and a healthy bottom line. The corporation appears to seek no publicity with disparaging statements or competition. One group of newspapers bought from the New York Times and headquartered in Tampa was given severance with the stipulations that they not say anything disparaging about Halifax Media Group and they also had to sign non-compete agreements for 2 years if they wanted severance pay. The non-compete agreements were later dropped.
Michael Redding
So, what is the goal of Halifax Media Group? Analysis shows the most important goal is the bottom line of making a profit. Each acquisition is either profitable when bought or made profitable by Halifax Media Group’s management through editorial department layoffs while preserving full staff in the advertising departments.
At this time Halifax Media Group is considered a mid-sized media company with both the newspapers as well as their attached online websites. As for the pro-business stance this is the corporate age and this corporation looks to make their corporate model very successful.
