An investment group led by Baseball America Publisher
Lee Folger and "several top" execs at GA-based Internet
financial services company Netzee Inc., have joined to
acquire Baseball America for $2M, according to Christopher
Seward of the ATLANTA CONSTITUTION. Netzee Chair John
Collins, CEO Glenn Sturm and President Catherine Silver
teamed with Folger to buy the publication from former Durham
Bulls Owner Miles Wolff. The deal includes Baseball
America, which has a circulation of 50,000, and its online
version at www.baseballamerica.com. Silver will be
president of Baseball America Holdings and Folger will be VP
& Publisher of the Durham, NC-based unit. Folger said the
group has been working on a deal for about six months, and
added that the next 12-24 months "will be used to improve
and expand the magazine's coverage in the print and online
versions." Folger said that there has "been no decision on
whether privately held Baseball America will be taken
public" (ATLANTA CONSTITUTION, 6/24). The SPORTSBUSINESS
JOURNAL's Noah Liberman reports that "several sources placed
the deal between" $2-3M. Wolff will remain a minority
owner, but he "would not disclose his stake." The revamped
company is "planning to add significantly to its staff" of
20 in Durham (SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL, 6/26). Wolff: "The
future of Baseball America is as an Internet product. With
the changes in the economics of publishing, it was time for
an ownership to come in that could compete on that level."
Silver: "Their content has great value. It's just that it
has not been marketed" (Raleigh NEWS & OBSERVER, 6/23).
