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Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Media Hedge Fund Gains Control of Creative Loafing

Posted by on Tue, Aug 25, 2009 at 12:00 PM

New York-based hedge fund Atalaya won the Creative Loafing bankruptcy auction today gaining control of the alt-weekly chain, the second-largest in the country. The chain has been owned and operated by the Eason family since it was founded 30 years ago, and has papers in Chicago, D.C., Charlotte, Atlanta, and Tampa.

Atalaya won the auction with a bid of $5 million, more than twice the $2.32 million the Easons and their backers came up with. Creative Loafing had borrowed $30 million from Atalaya in 2007 to buy the Chicago Reader and the Washington City Paper.

Atalaya says they're not going to shut down the papers, and even says they'll make $1 million available for the chain's costs. Ousted CEO Ben Eason says he'll start a new online publication in Tampa.

 

Comments (5) RSS

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Will in Seattle 1
Wait, Washington City Paper ... isn't that who "distributes" that DC politico online thing those WaPo political reporters bailed to?

Oh, snap. They're going to all be let go.
Posted by Will in Seattle http://www.facebook.com/WillSeattle on August 25, 2009 at 12:37 PM
2
Eason is a total tool
Posted by Proud Georgia voter on August 25, 2009 at 12:47 PM
Christin 3
Coming from an Atlanta resident: Creative Loafing sucks. It aims for all the marks that a standard-issue generic alt-weekly is supposed to hit--the best-of-city, some local music, some city news, some bad comics and syndicated material. But it does it in the most bland, useless way possible. There's absolutely no voice to the paper; it feels more like the City Life Sunday section of a daily than anything else. It's weekly, but it's sure not alt-weekly; the daily Atlanta Journal-Constitution has more flavor. Can I use the word "bland" about three more times in this paragraph? Bland bland bland.

If the Stranger ever wants to start an Atlanta branch, know that you'd be filling a gaping hole.
Posted by Christin on August 25, 2009 at 1:59 PM
4
You win Headline of the Day.
Posted by MattyWorth on August 25, 2009 at 6:38 PM
5
Nobody reads The Reader since the uncreative oafs took over and slashed 3/4 the content.
Posted by Phil O'Sophic on August 26, 2009 at 12:16 PM

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