Top row: Laura Rearwin Ward, Melissa Sanderson, Jeffrey Potts.
Middle row: CNPA’s Joe Wirt, Nic and Hayley Mattson, Bonnie Rodriguez.
Bottom row: CNPA consultant Hud Englehart, CNPA Vice Chairperson Julie Makinen.
News executives from four California regions told about their operations during CNPA’s “Acquisition and Succession” webinar on Thursday, July 21. Cribb Cope & Potts, a CNPA Allied Member, sponsored the event, which drew 22 registrants.
From her satellite office in Ferndale, Humboldt County, Melissa Sanderson, the ad director-turned CEO, explained how the Eureka-based North Coast Journal Inc. became a larger part of her family’s life, and how they soon picked up another longtime CNPA Member in The Ferndale Enterprise.
From the office and printing plant in Galt, Sacramento County, Bonnie Rodriguez, the managing editor-turned-CEO, ran down how her new company, Valley Oak Press, came to own the former Herburger Publications news group. It publishes the Elk Grove Citizen, The Galt Herald, The River Valley Times (Rancho Murieta) and Valley Community Newspapers in Sacramento.
From Ojai, Laura Rearwin Ward, Ojai Media LLC co-owner and publisher, told about her time since 2018 with the Ojai Valley News and how she and some local investors last year took on the responsibility of that Ventura County weekly and its quarterly Ojai Magazine.
And from Atascadero, San Luis Obispo County, Hayley and Nic Mattson covered how these magazine publishers added the Atascadero News and Paso Robles Press newspapers to their 13 Stars Media portfolio and later acquired The Malibu Times and Santa Ynez Valley Star.
Folsom-based Jeffrey Potts, of the Cribb Cope & Potts brokerage, added some context on valuation, marketing — and tact.
The panelists touched on the opportunity, the offer, the negotiation, the incorporation, the fine print and the finality of the deals.
Questions and answers covered confidentiality and operational adjustments they made with the new properties and their people.
The webinar ran one hour. Members can view the recording in the CNPA Online Community.
