Business News

Times Publishing Co. Announces Plans to Sell GOVERNING

Wednesday 29. July 2009 - GOVERNING, the highly-respected provider of news, information and best practices for top state and city government officials is being offered for sale. GOVERNING's properties include a monthly magazine, Web site and event-based products.

Based in Washington, D.C., GOVERNING is one of three divisions that formed the Congressional Quarterly group of companies owned by the St. Petersburg-based Times Publishing Company, which has been divesting its Washington properties to support its growth initiatives in Florida.

Last year, Times Publishing sold the CQ Press books division to Sage Publications. This month, the company announced that Roll Call Group, a division of the Economist Group, has agreed to acquire Congressional Quarterly.

For more than 20 years, GOVERNING has been recognized as the leading brand providing intelligence and analysis to senior officials in state and local government, with a sharp focus on policy and politics. GOVERNING’s subscribers represent a balanced mix of elected and appointed officials, as well as top-tier managers with a range of executive and legislative titles.

The brand includes the monthly magazine GOVERNING, which has a BPA-audited circulation of more than 80,000 subscribers nationwide, the companion Web site GOVERNING.com, which is visited by an equally large and influential audience, and an active portfolio of conferences and seminars.

In addition, GOVERNING presents the Public Officials of the Year Awards, one of the government’s most anticipated annual events, which is attended by award winners and senior executives from across the nation. GOVERNING also produces e-newsletters targeting specific niches of government executives in management, technology, human services, and finance.

GOVERNING has garnered wide recognition including four nominations to the prestigious National Magazine Awards.

“The launch of GOVERNING magazine two decades ago opened our eyes to the key role that states, cities, and counties play in the United States,” said founding publisher Peter Harkness. “From helping to form national policy on key domestic issues to administering most of the nation’s public programs, our states and localities hold much of the responsibility for how well our public sector performs.”

The company has engaged the Jordan Edmiston Group, Inc., the leading investment bank for

media, information marketing services and related technology, to act as financial adviser in the transaction.