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Creative Loafing Inc. lands Chicago, D.C. weeklies

The Tampa-based alternative weekly company nearly doubles its size.

By TOM ZUCCON, Times Staff Writer
Published July 25, 2007

Tampa-based Creative Loafing Inc. nearly doubled in size Monday when it acquired alternative weeklies the Chicago Reader and Washington (D.C.) City Paper for an undisclosed sum.

Besides its Tampa edition, Creative Loafing also owns alternative weeklies in Atlanta, Sarasota and Charlotte, N.C. The four papers, all named Creative Loafing, have a combined weekly circulation of about 275,000.

The Chicago Reader, founded in 1971, is one of the oldest alternative newspapers in the country and has an average weekly circulation of 135,000 papers. The City Paper, started in 1982, has an average circulation of 80,000.

As part of the sale, Creative Loafing CEO Ben Eason said, certain financial, technology and production operations will be shifted to offices in Atlanta and Tampa.

With the additions, Creative Loafing will boost its weekly circulation to about 500,000 newspapers, a monthly print readership of 2-million and more than 10-million page views per month on its Web sites, said Eason, whose parents, Debbie and Chick Eason, founded the first Creative Loafing newspaper in Atlanta in 1972.

The company expanded to Charlotte in 1987, to Tampa in 1988, and to Sarasota in 1999.

"This is a big step for us," Eason said in a statement. "I'm confident it will enhance our mission: to help urban explorers enrich their lives and strengthen their communities."

Bob Roth, owner of the Chicago Reader and Washington City Paper, added in a statement: "We've had a great ride. Now we're happily handing the keys to a new generation."

[Last modified July 24, 2007, 23:39:07]