Maine Magazine and Maine Home + Design are being sold to a Canadian publisher.
Terms of the sale of State 23 Media, the magazines’ publisher, to Advocate Printing and Publishing were not disclosed.
Advocate, based in Pictou, Nova Scotia, owns 11 newspapers and nearly two dozen magazines. The company said production and printing for the Maine magazines would be moved to Canada, but its U.S. subsidiary, Advocate Media USA, would open offices in Portland.
The purchase of the magazines is Advocate’s first acquisitions in the U.S., the company said, but the company operates St. Croix Printing and Publishing that serves the border towns of St. Stephen, New Brunswick, and Calais, Maine.
“The addition of these titles demonstrates our resolve to grow and invest in our media operations,” Crystal Murray, president of Advocate Media, said in a release. “This acquisition is very energizing and the boost that we all need coming out of a few challenging years, but there is still a lot of work to do.”
Fred Fiander, Advocate Printing’s vice president of media operations, said he has spent the last couple of weeks with the magazines’ staff in Portland and “I am excited about their passion and commitment to the magazines they produce. This raises the bar for our Advocate family, and we are up for the challenge.”
“The Maine titles share our curiosity, passion and love for the East Coast and will fit perfectly into Advocate’s publishing family,” Sean Murray, president and chief executive officer of Advocate Printing, said in a release. “We are excited by potential synergies and are confident that the titles will flourish in a post-COVID marketplace. We further hope that we can become a pathway to promote Atlantic Canada’s wonderful offerings to the New England marketplace.”
State 23 Media, a newly formed partnership, bought the magazines from Maine Media Collective three years ago after allegations that the owner and former publisher sexually harassed a female employee in 2010. The publisher issued an apology, but the company lost sponsors and canceled events in the wake of the allegations.
Comments are not available on this story.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
