Newspaper Executives Team Up to Acquire the Dallas Shopper

Posted on July 24, 1998

Weiss, Peck & Greer, L.L.C.'s Private Equity Group, in partnership with Richard L. Connor and John Coots, announced its formation of a publishing company, Lionheart Newspapers, Inc., to purchase the Dallas/Fort Worth Shoppers Guide and other community newspapers centered around Minneapolis and Dallas/Fort Worth. The properties were acquired from Minnesota Suburban Publications and Darwin Oordt, Doug Dance, and Denis Mindak.

A free weekly with a circulation of 425,000, the Dallas Shopper is the second largest home-delivered print advertising vehicle in the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex. In addition to the Dallas Shopper, Lionheart's acquisitions include the purchase of the Minnesota Sun Publications, a group of 21 free weeklies that surround Minneapolis and form the heart of the new company (circ. 280,000); the Stillwater Gazette, the oldest daily newspaper in Minnesota (circ. 4,000); and two other weekly, home-delivered shoppers, the Springfield (MO) Pennypower Shopper (circ. 140,000), and the Wichita (KS) Pennypower Shopper (circ. 140,000). million. Lionheart will be headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas.

Messrs. Connor and Coots will be heading Lionheart's operations as chairman and chief executive officer and president and chief operating officer, respectively. Both men are seasoned newspaper executives who each spent over 20 years running newspapers for Capital Cities/ABC, Inc.