PORTLAND, Ore. — EO Media Group is being acquired by Mississippi-based Carpenter Media Group, the same organization that recently acquired the Portland Tribune family of newspapers. EO Media Group confirmed the sale plan in a press release Wednesday afternoon.
Carpenter Media will acquire EO Media Group's entire portfolio of more than two dozen local newspapers, magazines and newsletters, including the East Oregonian, The Astorian, the Chinook Observer, The Bend Bulletin, the Rogue Valley Times, the La Grande Observer and the Baker City Herald.
"We plan to build on the foundations put down by the Forrester family as we continue to innovate and work to support true professional journalism for each community served," Carpenter Media chairman Todd Carpenter said in a statement.
EO Media Group, formerly the East Oregonian Publishing Company, dates back to 1908 and his been owned by the Aldrich and Forrester families. The company was going through a round of expansion until fairly recently, acquiring the Bulletin and Redmond Spokesman in 2019 and launching the Rogue Valley Times in 2023 after the closure of the Medford Mail Tribune.
But EO Media announced a major round of cuts and layoffs in June and said it would begin looking for a buyer. Some of its papers reduced their print frequency and others went all-online. The company said it was struggling in the face of rising postal and health care costs and declining ad revenue.
Carpenter bought Pamplin Media Group in June, acquiring the flagship Portland Tribune and the company's portfolio of smaller community newspapers in northwest Oregon such as the Lake Oswego Review, the Beaverton Valley Times and the Gresham Outlook.
The purchase was followed by newsroom layoffs less than two months later, The Oregonian reported. The Everett Daily Herald, which was also acquired by Carpenter Media earlier this year, reported that about half of its newsroom staff had been laid off in June.
Carpenter Media's website lists a portfolio of local media outlets in 20 U.S. states and multiple Canadian provinces and territories. The company has been growing rapidly through a series of acquisitions; it owned more than 180 titles after the acquisition of Pamplin and now owns more than 250 following the addition of EO Media.
