petters071808
On the homepage
Vikings
Out There
Artcetera
Television
Continued: July 17, 2008: Petters buys group of community magazines
Print this story
E-mail this story
Save to del.icio.us
Share on Facebook
Share on Digg
Minnesota business by the numbers
See Minnesota's top earning companies, CEOs and non-profits
More from Business
Tom Petters got into the magazine business Thursday by acquiring assets of the publisher of magazines such as MinnesotaBusiness and the in-flight magazine at Sun Country Airlines, which he controls.
Petters Group Worldwide on Thursday took over Bloomington-based Metropolitan Media Group for undisclosed terms.
Some of the publisher's 15 lifestyle magazines will be eliminated. "We are evaluating all publications as far as their profitability," Petters spokeswoman Andrea Miller said. She did not estimate how many magazines would survive.
Employees were notified of the ownership change Thursday afternoon.
About 50 to 60 people worked for Metropolitan Media. Miller said that several of them will be offered jobs with the new company. It is unclear whether Kenan Aksoz, chairman and CEO of Metropolitan Media, will have any role with the Petters enterprise.
The new company will be called Community Media Group.
Starting Monday, the group's staff will be housed at the Petters Group headquarters in Minnetonka.
Petters, CEO of Petters Group Worldwide, had been a minority investor in Metropolitan Media. He was traveling Thursday and was unavailable for an interview, but he said in a prepared statement that he was acquiring a "strong portfolio" of publications. He said that "Petters Group looks to support their continued growth and work closely with Aksoz's team on new ventures."
The statement said the staff would "continue the operations of MinnesotaBusiness and many of the 15 community publications."
The magazines were focused on particular communities, such as Eden Prairie Magazine and Edina Magazine. City South Magazine covers entertainment and lifestyle features in south Minneapolis.
"We have a lot of synergies with Metropolitan Media with our other businesses, and feel this is an opportunity to support some of our future and current business projects," Miller said.
For example, Metropolitan Media produced Sun Country's Escape magazine. Petters owns all of the voting stock in the airline.
Metropolitan Media executives were unavailable Thursday to comment about the company's financial condition at the time of the transaction.
Liz Fedor • 612-673-7709
Previous pageRecent Business stories
North Dakota's land department director departing next year after serving at post since 2001 - July 17, 2008
North Dakota's land department director departing next year after serving at post since 2001 - The administrator of the North Dakota Land Department is leaving. More
Blog: Patent Pending
Lights out at U energy conference. Irony police notified.
Just as Lawrence Kazmerski, a top official at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, was about to give the keynote address at the University of Minnesota's annual E3 conference at the RiverCentre in St. Paul, the lights went out, bathing the audience in darkness and a deep sense of irony.
Comment on this story | Read all 8 comments | Hide reader comments