The Press: Time Inc.’s First Daily

After 45 years of publishing magazines and books, Time Inc. last week announced a move into the newspaper business. Having recently decided to buy Little, Brown & Co. as well as 300,000 shares of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Time Inc. reached an agreement to buy its first daily—the Newark Evening News. Time Inc. agreed to exchange roughly 325,000 shares of its common stock and take over a News mortgage debt of about $5,000,000, in return for all the stock of the Evening News Publishing Co. of Newark. The News Co., however, will retain ownership of Newark radio station WVNJ as well as the Garden State Paper Co.

The News was founded by Wallace Scudder in 1883, and has always been in the hands of the same family. The only afternoon daily published in Newark, it is New Jersey’s largest newspaper, with a statewide daily circulation of 278,000 and 423,000 on Sundays. Advertising revenue has risen 38% over the past seven years to more than $25 million in 1967. With an editorial staff of 254 in Newark and six regional bureaus in the state, the News started delivering some 20,000 copies of a New York edition last month.

To Vincent J. Manno of Manno & Romano, the newspaper brokerage firm that brought the two publishers together, the transaction represented a “new horizon for the newspaper field.” In the joint announcement made by the two companies, Newark News President Edward Scudder said that “although the News has never occupied a stronger position in its field than it does today, I am convinced that the vast resources and prestige of Time Inc. will contribute tremendously to its growth and service to its readers.” Time Inc.’s plans for the News will be made public when the transaction is concluded and the Internal Revenue Service approves it—perhaps next summer.

Time Inc. President James A. Linen stressed his company’s interest in the city of Newark. “In spite of recent problems of racial conflict and urban blight,” he said, “we have been most impressed with the community’s remarkable spirit and resiliency. In keeping with the Newark News’s tradition of community service, we hope and believe that we can make a significant contribution to the city’s growth and well-being.”