HD Media to acquire 25 publications from AIM Media Management

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.”

HD Media Managing Partner Doug Reynolds

HD Media LLC has agreed to acquire AIM Media Midwest’s Ohio and AIM Media Indiana’s publishing operations. The transaction includes 25 publications serving communities throughout western and central Ohio and southern and central Indiana. Terms of the sale were not disclosed.

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

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

The Indiana operation includes six publications: The Republic, Columbus; Daily Journal, Franklin; Daily Reporter, Greenfield; The Tribune, Seymour; Brown County Democrat, Nashville; and The Times-Post, Pendleton.

HD Media will assume ownership effective Sept. 1.

“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,” said Jeremy L. Halbreich, chairman and CEO of AIM Media Management, LLC.

“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 added.

“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,” he concluded.

“We aren't buying newspapers because we're nostalgic for the way the world used to be,” HD Media Managing Partner Doug Reynolds said. “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.”

HD Media, headquartered in Charleston, 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.

AIM Media Management is headquartered in Dallas, Texas, and 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.