Tribune Under New Ownership
Tribco, LLC, the parent company of several newspapers in the Metropolitan area, including the Queens Tribune and the Long Islander, announced last week that the papers were acquired by a new investment group.
Michael Schenkler, president of Tribco, announced the sale on Jan. 2.
The new owner of the papers, PFH Media Group NY, LLC, is a branch of Phoenix Financial Holdings, a group based in Washington, D.C., headed by Chairman Brandy Williams.
“I believe that exciting days are ahead for our new publications,” Williams said. “We look forward to building on their historic, journalistic foundations and growing them in the vital communities which they serve.”
The Queens Tribune was founded in 1970 by former U.S. Rep. Gary Ackerman, who passed the reins of the publication to Schenkler in 1978. The Long Islander was founded by poet Walt Whitman in 1838. It was acquired by Tribco in 2006.
PFH Media will retain the staff of both the Queens and Long Island offices. Schenkler will remain on staff as a consultant.
In addition to the Queens Tribune and the Long Islander, the acquisition includes: The Record (of Northport, L.I.), the Half Hollow Hills Newspaper and the Press of Southeast Queens; several legal publications; Multi-Media, (an advertising, promotion and printing company) and DineHuntington, (operators of Huntington Restaurant Week).