Staff report

ALBEMARLE — The Stanly News & Press has been purchased by Boone Newspapers Inc. and Carpenter Newsmedia LLC, the same group that owns the Salisbury Post.

The purchase was completed Wednesday.

Albemarle Newsmedia LLC represents the new entity that bought the Stanly County newspaper. It is a newly formed N.C. entity owned by BNI and CNL.

Community Newspaper Holdings Inc. of Montgomery, Alabama, was the Stanly News and Press’ former owner.

The newspaper has a circulation of roughly 6,000 subscribers.

BNI and CNL have offices in Natchez, Mississippi, and Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Todd Carpenter of Natchez is BNI’s president and chief executive officer. James B. Boone Jr. of Tuscaloosa is BNI’s chairman.

“We are pleased and honored to assume ownership of and responsibility for the Stanly News & Press and look forward to working with each staff member and the community,” Carpenter said. “We will work hard to meet every obligation to the community and to produce a newspaper and website the community can be proud of.”

Sandy Selvy-Mullis will remain as publisher of the Stanly News & Press, which is printed at the Salisbury Post offices.

“This is an exciting time for the Stanly News and Press,” Selvy-Mullis said. “I look forward to a great future with a company known for quality newspapers and a focus on community news.”

BNI and CNL also own and BNI manages 80 newspapers in similar-sized communities across the country.

Other N.C. affiliates of BNI and CNL are the Salisbury Post and newspapers in Tryon, Washington, Ahoskie, Gatesville, Mocksville and Clemmons.

“I’m looking forward to working with Sandy Selvy-Mullis and her team in Albemarle,” said Greg Anderson, publisher of the Salisbury Post and group manager of the Davie Enterprise-Record, Clemmons Courier and now the Stanly News & Press.

“We see many partnership opportunities that will help both the Salisbury Post and Stanly News & Press that will improve our products and offerings for our customers.”

Selvy-Mullis began her career in newspapers with the Ottumwa Courier in Ottumwa, Iowa, in 1996 as an advertising sales representative. She was promoted to special projects coordinator and then advertising manager in Ottumwa.

In 2005, she was named publisher of the Marion County, Iowa, newspaper group, which included two weekly newspapers and a weekly shopper. In 2007, she moved to North Carolina as publisher of the Stanly News & Press.

Selvy-Mullis marked 20 years in the newspaper industry in December 2016 and 10 years with the Stanly News & Press in April.

Stanly News & Press employees were notified of the sale Wednesday, and a new payroll and benefits enrollment process is underway.

BNI has a rich history of quality newspapers, websites, magazines and other publications in the communities it serves, explained in part by Boone’s corporate philosophy: “We seek to produce the highest quality product the economics of the community can support. And then, by ingenuity and imagination, we strive for a higher quality in an effort to serve and build that community.”