HD Media to acquire AIM Media properties in Indiana, Ohio

COLUMBUS — A West Virginia-based media company has agreed to acquire AIM Media Indiana’s and AIM Media Midwest’s Ohio publishing operations.

The transaction between HD Media LLC of Charleston, West Virginia, and AIM Media Management of Dallas, Texas, includes 25 publications serving communities throughout southern and central Indiana and western and central Ohio. Terms of the sale were not disclosed.

The Indiana operation includes six publications: the Daily Reporter in Greenfield; The Times-Post in Pendleton; The Republic in Columbus; the Daily Journal in Franklin; The Tribune in Seymour; Brown County Democrat in Nashville, along with their associated weeklies, websites and magazines, and a commercial printing operation out of Greenfield.

The Ohio group includes 19 publications: The Lima News in Lima; the Sidney Daily News in Sidney; Miami Valley Today in Troy and Piqua; The Bryan Times in Bryan; the Sentinel-Tribune in Bowling Green; the Urbana Daily Citizen in Urbana; the Wilmington News Journal in Wilmington; the Northwest Signal in Napoleon; The Daily Advocate and Early Bird in Greenville and Darke County; the Xenia Daily Gazette in Xenia; the Record Herald; in Washington Court House and Fayette County; the Delaware Gazette in Delaware; The Times-Gazette in Hillsboro and Highland County; The Register-Herald in Eaton; the Morrow County Sentinel in Mount Gilead; the Galion Inquirer in Galion; the Fairborn Daily Herald in Fairborn; and the Beavercreek News-Current in Beavercreek.

HD Media will assume ownership effective Sept. 1.

Jeremy L. Halbreich, chairman and CEO of AIM Media Management, the current owner of AIM Media Indiana and AIM Media Midwest, issued the following statement:

“Rick Starks, president and COO of AIM Media Management LLC, and I have had the great pleasure and privilege of operating these Indiana and Ohio publications for the past 11 and nine years, respectively. Throughout our ownership, we have always focused on publishing local community news outlets of the highest caliber and quality while also operating successful businesses. Our publications have consistently received the largest number of awards and recognitions among publishing groups of our size, and for this we wish to thank all of our dedicated employees for their hard work and support,” Halbreich said.

“We have known Doug Reynolds for many years, and we have always held him in the highest regard. He and his team at HD Media operate a strong group of local community publications in West Virginia and Ohio, and they are a natural, strategic and highly qualified next owner for these two groups of publications,” Halbreich concluded.

HD Media currently operates 10 newspapers in West Virginia and Ohio, including the Pulitzer Prize-winning Charleston Gazette-Mail, The Herald-Dispatch in Huntington and the twice-weekly Portsmouth Daily Times in Portsmouth, Ohio. HD Media acquired the Portsmouth Daily Times from AIM Media in 2023.

“We found a partner in AIM Media when we purchased the Portsmouth Daily Times three years ago, and as that relationship grew stronger, we felt comfortable negotiating a large acquisition like this with them,” said Phil Perry, president of HD Media.

Perry said the organization has been working on acquiring the Indiana and Ohio publishing operations for nearly a year.

“Our entire organization is committed to transitioning community journalism into an exciting future that presents technological advances which empowers us to reach readers via multiple platforms. Additionally, this extended footprint gives us a robust advertising presence regionally,” Perry said.

Added Doug Reynolds, HD Media Managing Partner, “We aren’t buying newspapers because we’re nostalgic for the way the world used to be. We’re buying them because we believe community newspapers have a future.”

“Some of these publications have earned the trust of their communities for more than 200 years,” Reynolds said. “We have worked with our friends at AIM Media for years and know firsthand their commitment to quality journalism. Our philosophy is simple: think globally and act locally. We can provide the resources of a larger organization, but these newspapers must continue to belong to the communities they serve.”

AIM Media Management will continue to own and operate its Texas publications following the transaction. The company will continue to focus on delivering local news, information and advertising services across print, online and video platforms.

Dirks, Van Essen & April, a media merger and acquisition firm based in Santa Fe, New Mexico, represented AIM Media in the transaction.