Congressional Quarterly Goes on the Block

The Times Publishing Co.—publisher of Florida’s St. Petersburg Times newspaper—has announced that it is exploring the sale of Washington-based Congressional Quarterly.

According to Times Publishing chairman Paul Tash, the company is looking to direct its resources toward its Florida-based properties. In a statement, CQ president Robert W. Merry said “to maintain CQ’s double-digit growth, we appreciate that it’s time to bring our enterprise under the banner of an owner with national or international reach.”

Covering Congress, politics and public policy, Congressional Quarterly Inc. publishes CQ Weekly and Governing magazines, as well as the CQ Today daily newsletter.

Times Publishing—which is owned by the Poynter Institute—has retained investment banking firm the Jordan, Edmiston Group to handle the potential transaction. “We are confident that new ownership will enable the management team to continue its successful strategy of growth and innovation,” JEGI founder and CEO Wilma Jordan said.

JEGI represented Congressional Quarterly last May when it sold CQ Books and CQ Press to Sage, an international publisher of journals, books and electronic media for academic, educational and professional markets.

Last November, Congressional Quarterly acquired Web-based state legislation information search engine TrendTRACK, expanding its legislative tracking capabilities.

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