IBJ Media Acquires Grow INdiana Media Ventures LLC, Parent Company of Inside INdiana Business
Acquisition combines more than 60 years of coverage and knowledge of the people, places, products and issues shaping Indiana’s economy
INDIANAPOLIS – (Aug. 31, 2021) – IBJ Media, the owner and publisher of the Indianapolis Business Journal and The Indiana Lawyer, today announces its acquisition of Grow INdiana Media Ventures LLC, the parent company of the Inside INdiana Business brand of business news products. The combination will create an unrivaled business news powerhouse in Indiana.
The five-time Emmy-winning Inside INdiana Business with Gerry Dick television show will become a new division of IBJ Media and will continue to air across all current stations, as will Inside INdiana Business Radio, which broadcasts on 22 stations statewide. Gerry Dick, previously the owner and president of Grow INdiana Media Ventures, will lead the division as president. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The acquisition represents more than 60 years of combined coverage and knowledge of Hoosier business—the people, places, products and issues shaping Indiana’s economy.
IBJ has been central Indiana’s business authority since 1980, providing 41 years of in-depth coverage of companies, executives and the government policies that impact them through a weekly newspaper and daily e-newsletters.
Inside INdiana Business adds more than two decades of covering Indiana business from a statewide perspective through TV, radio and daily reporting on digital and web-based properties.
Both the IBJ and IIB websites will continue to post news and send e-newsletters daily, with IBJ focused on the central Indiana economy and Inside INdiana Business concentrated on statewide business news.
“This acquisition is about growth and the importance of local ownership in news,” said Nate Feltman, CEO of IBJ Media and publisher of IBJ and The Indiana Lawyer. “Since becoming an owner of IBJ in 2017, I have been interested in expanding into statewide business coverage, something Inside INdiana Business has been doing for more than two decades. Acquiring IIB is a leap forward in that goal and creates exciting and powerful opportunities for growth. Plus, we get the bonus of working with Gerry Dick, a trusted news voice across the state.”
In addition to Feltman, Mickey Maurer and Bob Schloss are co-owners of IBJ Media.
Dick co-founded Grow INdiana Media Ventures in 2000 as a portfolio of TV, radio, web and digital news products.
“In an age of shrinking media options, we are creating something unique. A larger organization with more resources, talent and technology will enable us to grow statewide and beyond,” Dick said. “This will mean new opportunities for employees and will enhance our mission of providing our audiences with relevant business news and information when they want it, where they want it and how they want it.”
Over the coming months, IBJ will explore how the brands can work together to help connect Indiana’s diverse regional economies and host events that will help to strengthen the state’s overall economy. In central Indiana, IBJ hosts 15 events, including industry-specific breakfast panels and awards programs honoring young leaders, women and company executives.
IBJ readers will not see any immediate changes to their subscription or the journalism they rely on to stay abreast of the latest in central Indiana news. The social channels and multimedia platforms for both IBJ and IIB will remain unchanged.
For more information about the acquisition, visit ibj.com/iib-acquisition and insideindianabusiness.com/story/44640290/iib-acquisition.
