Charles H. Morris Sr., CEO and president of Morris Multimedia Inc. announced Tuesday the sale of The Times and The Poultry Times in Gainesville, Georgia, to his son, Charles Hill Morris Jr. and his new company, Metro Market Media. The change of ownership of these north Georgia newspapers is effective immediately.
Morris Multimedia is the owner of the Statesboro Herald.
In a separate transaction, Morris Sr. also sold from an affiliated company The Forsyth County News and The Dawson Community News to Morris Jr. and Metro Market.
Morris Jr. has been regional manager of the three newspaper properties for the past 12 years. Metro Market Media is headquartered in Gainesville.
Morris Jr. said, "With the purchase of the media companies in these three exceptional markets, we plan to position ourselves for long-term success in the communities we serve. Having them under a single ownership will allow us to be more efficient and customer oriented in everything we do, while continuing to provide quality journalism.
"This is a family transaction that will allow us to have a collaborative relationship with MMI, while at the same time establishing ourselves as an independent company with these three properties, all of which have great potential."
The Times and its affiliated products were acquired from Gannett in 2004 by Morris Multimedia. The Forsyth and Dawson companies were owned by the New York Times Company prior to being purchased by an affiliated company in 1994.
In addition to his ownership of the new company, Morris Jr. will continue to serve in a leadership capacity with the Tennessee, California and Caribbean operations.
Morris Sr. said, "I'm very proud of my son for what he has accomplished in our company. He is a respected newspaper publisher who has served as president of Southern Newspaper Publishers Association, which represents daily newspapers in 15 southern states."
Founded in 1970 and headquartered in Savannah, Morris Multimedia is one of the largest privately owned media companies in the United States. Morris Multimedia owns and operates 16 television stations in six southeastern U.S. markets and numerous daily and weekly newspapers, shoppers and niche publications in eight states and the Caribbean.