Salem makes $8.5M buy in bid to build conservative media empire
Camarillo-based Christian and conservative media company Salem Communications Corp. said Jan. 13 that it has purchased the assets of Eagle Publishing for $8.5 million in a bid to build “a conservative media powerhouse.”
The deal includes Regnery Publishing, HumanEvents.com, Redstate.com, Eagle Financial Publications and Eagle Wellness. Washington, D.C.-based Eagle and its sister businesses have published books by Michelle Malkin, Newt Gingrich, Ann Coulter and other well-known faces of the political right. Founded in 1947, Regnery published some of the seminal works of the modern conservative movement, including Russell Kirk’s “The Conservative Mind” and William F. Buckley Jr.’s “God and Man at Yale.”
“Adding Eagle’s business units to Salem’s already considerable portfolio of multimedia assets creates a conservative media powerhouse,” Salem said in a statement. “The two companies represent many of conservatism’s finest voices in talk radio, book publishing and digital media.”
Salem owns dozens of Christian and conservative talk radio stations across the country. Amid a shifting media landscape, it has started to move away from traditional channels and deeper into the digital sphere with acquisitions such as HotAir.com and Twitchy.com, which it purchased late last year from Malkin.
Salem, which trades on the Nasdaq, had profits in 2012 of $4.4 million, down 21 percent compared to a year earlier. Its revenue was $229.2 million, up 5 percent on higher Internet publishing revenue.
“Eagle is one of the most influential companies in the conservative media space. Its addition to Salem brings together a unique portfolio of conservative media properties and fits with our strategy of integrating traditional media and new media assets all serving the same target audience,” Salem President and CEO Edward G. Atsinger III said in a statement on Monday. “The opportunity we like most about this acquisition is that each of Eagle’s businesses matches up so well with Salem’s extensive media platform. With 102 radio stations and a dozen major national websites all targeting the conservative community, this provides a perfect marketing platform to promote Eagle’s products to a wider audience.”
Salem shares ticked up 2.2 percent to $8.95 on Monday following the acquisition announcement.
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