Press Releases

Distinctly Montana Magazine

Distinctly Montana Magazine has been sold by founder Michael Blevins to Bill Muhlenfeld and Anthea George of Bozeman, Montana, according to John Cribb, Cribb, Greene & Associates, who represented the seller in the transaction.

Distinctly Montana Magazine is a high quality glossy product published quarterly and distributed throughout Montana and most of the nation. The magazine, founded in 2001, is a resource guide for all things Montana and includes local features, literary pieces, and high quality art and photography. Included in the sale is the magazine website at distinctlymontana.com.

According to Anthea George, "Distinctly Montana is a quality publication with a great concept and a focused mission. We look forward as new owners to bringing the best of Montana to residents and visitors alike."

Cribb, Greene & Associates is an eighty-seven year old publishing company merger and acquisition firm with offices in Bozeman, Montana and Charlottesville, Virginia.

Havre, MT

December 16, 2005

Havre, MT – Pioneer Newspapers Inc. has announced it will sell the Havre Daily News to a Wyoming partnership, according to John Cribb, Cribb & Associates, LLC, who represented the sellers in the transaction.

Pioneer, based in Seattle, has owned the Havre newspaper for 31 years.

The staff learned of the sale Monday at a meeting with David Lord, Pioneer’s president, who introduced Robb Hicks, Gary Stevenson and Tom Mullen as the new owners. They are scheduled to take over the 4,200-circulation newspaper early in 2006.

Terms of the sale were not disclosed.

“The Havre Daily News is a great newspaper and we feel fortunate to have this opportunity,” Stevenson said. “Havre, Hill County and the Hi-Line, are home to good people and we’re going to do our best to continue to provide them with a daily newspaper that reflects their community.”

Lord said Pioneer had not intended to sell the Havre Daily News, but was approached by Hicks, Stevenson and Mullen around the time Harvey Brock resigned as publisher in November after being named publisher of the Clinton Herald in Clinton, Iowa. The Havre publisher job remains vacant.

Lord met the trio when Pioneer bought the West Yellowstone News from them.

Hicks, Stevenson and Mullen own about a dozen newspapers as partners or individually. The newspapers include one daily, the Sun-Telegraph in Sidney, Neb. Three are in Montana: the Glasgow Courier, the Silver State Post in Deer Lodge and the Philipsburg Mail.

Pioneer is a private, family-owned publishing business established in 1974 by Jim Scripps. Pioneer owns eight daily newspapers in the West, including the Bozeman Daily Chronicle, and a number of weekly papers.

Cribb & Associates, LLC is an eighty-two year old newspaper brokerage firm with offices in Montana, Florida and Virginia.

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