Eason Loses Creative Loafing, Now Owned by Atalaya
Creative Loafing Atlanta and the other five newsweeklies owned by the company were auctioned off to the highest bidder, and that bidder was Atalaya, the firm that had lent CL a lot of money. Eason had also bid and lost.
Creative Loafing Atlanta’s blog reported the news a few days ago, but the writers there are in a complicated position: they can’t say anything critical of Atalaya because they don’t really know if they’re keeping their jobs.
Atalaya will likely keep the papers open, because they’re the only thing that will make any money, and thus make the company’s investment worth it. However, Atalaya could sell the various papers in the different cities to various new owners. They also could change the mission or editorial vision of any of the papers, in addition to the staff and/or management. Stay tuned.