Staff Report
Published July 30, 2010

A New York bankruptcy judge has approved the sale of Brown Publishing Co., the parent company of SC Biz News LLC, to a new company headed by the top three executives of Ohio-based Brown Publishing.

A newly formed company, Brown Media Corp., won a majority of the assets during an auction last week with a bid of $22.4 million. Brown Media Corp. was created by three top Brown Publishing executives: CEO Roy Brown, CFO Joe Ellingham and general counsel Joel Dempsey. Brown Publishing filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in May.

The Delphos Herald also submitted a winning bid at the auction, to pay $3.6 million for two of Brown’s daily publications in Ohio.

The judge approved the sale on Thursday.

Brown Publishing Co. owns the Columbia Regional Business Report, Charleston Regional Business Journal, GSA Business and SCBIZ magazine. The company also owns publications in Ohio, New York, Texas, Illinois, Iowa, Colorado, Utah, Arizona and Wyoming.