The office of the Republic of Columbus, Indiana. (Wikipedia Photo)
The buyer is AIM, run by veteran news executive Jeremy Halbreich, whose main holdings are small Texas papers it purchased in 2012 from Freedom Communications.
Jeffrey Brown. president and CEO of The Republic’s parent corporation, indicated that he would stay on for now. But, he said in The Republic’s story on the transaction:
There comes a point in time in older multi-generational family businesses where family members, many of whom are in or near retirement, need to exit from their ownership in order to pursue other interests. Our family is incredibly appreciative of the support of our communities and our customers through the years. It’s been a great run and we know that AIM will continue in that same tradition.
I wrote several weeks ago about the business strategy and successes of the family-owned Post and Courier of Charleston, S.C. But over several decades, the herd of family-owned organizations has continued to thin dramatically.
Punishing estate taxes are not as big a factor as they once were, but given the growing challenges of the industry these days, owners often look for an exit option, particularly if a next generation is not interested in running the business.
I’m not familiar with The Republic. But Columbus is well known for a town of 45,000 population as home of Fortune 500 heavy manufacturer Cummins Engine Company. The company’s late CEO, J. Irwin Miller, was a generous local philanthropist, among other gifts establishing a fund so that many public and private building could be designed by world-famous architects including I.M. Pei, Eero Saarinen and Robert Stern.
