Update on the sale of the Virginian-Pilot: No sale
It’s been a while since we updated you on the impending sale of The Virginian-Pilot.
The reason? The sale has been held up — probably because of the credit meltdown, the Pilot reports today.
The Pilot building on Norfolk’s Brambleton Avenue.
The newsroom is on the second floor; Landmark
corporate HQ is on the third.
—
Landmark Media Enterprises announced Wednesday it has taken most of its properties off the market for the time being. One exception, though, is the Pilot. Landmark still hopes to sell it soon.
The Pilot’s Phil Walzer reports:
“We are having discussions regarding The Virginian-Pilot Media Companies with an interested buyer,” Landmark’s vice chairman, Richard F. Barry III, said Wednesday. “The buyer is encouraged about obtaining financing.”
He declined to identify the prospective buyer or say when he expected the sale to be completed.
The Virginian-Pilot and its affiliates employ about 1,260 people, mostly in Hampton Roads. The Pilot’s associated businesses include Web sites such as Pilotonline.com and more than a dozen specialty publications, such as Link, Port Folio Weekly, Inside Business, and newspapers on military bases.
Landmark managed to unload its most prized possession, the Weather Channel, this summer, for an estimated $3.5 billion and it sold Q Interactive, an internet marketing firm, in September. But the sale of a TV station in Nashville fell through a few weeks ago because of credit problems.
In addition, three Landmark executives announced their retirement Wednesday. Read it all in today’s Pilot.
Read our previous coverage:
Jan. 2: The breakup of Landmark and sale of its assets is first announced.
Jan. 4: The Pilot’s owner confirms his intent to sell.
Jan. 11: Pat Robertson announces he wants to buy the Pilot.
Jan. 14: Tight-lipped Landmark execs cause Pilot staffers to get their own news from the wires. But the Pilot uses strong language in its news stories.
March 11: The request for bids goes out.
May 19: Arkansas-based chain said to be interested in buying The Virginian-Pilot.
May 31: Bids are reportedly in for the Weather Channel.
June 14: Weather Channel bids still up in the air.
July 6: Landmark sells Weather Channel for $3.5 billion