By Michael Kiefer
The Arizona Republic
The Valley men who founded the weekly alternative newspaper Phoenix New Times and parlayed it into a national media chain are selling all 13 of their publications and leaving journalism.
Village Voice Media owners Michael Lacey and Jim Larkin announced Sunday night that they have agreed to sell their company, which owns alternative weeklies from Los Angeles to New York City, to a newly created company owned by a group of the papers’ editors and publishers.
Lacey and Larkin will retain ownership of Backpage.com, an international, multimillion-dollar online advertising site that has been the target of legal action and protests in several states because users have illicitly posted ads to market prostitution.
“It’s painful thinking about selling something you created with blood, sweat and tears, but it’s much less painful to sell it to your peers,” Lacey told The Arizona Republic.
