BY JAMES T. MADORE
Newsday
Special to Schneps Media
Newsday Media Group is selling amNewYork, its free commuter newspaper in New York City, to Schneps Media, effective Oct. 11, officials announced Wednesday.
The price was not disclosed. Schneps executives said they will expand amNewYork through events programming and broadcasting.
Launched in 2003, amNewYork is Manhattan’s highest daily circulation newspaper and has almost 1 million unique visitors to its website each month.
Newsday publisher Debby Krenek said: “amNewYork has become an important part of daily life in the city … We are confident that this tradition of serving New Yorkers will continue with Schneps Media, whose strong commitment to local media makes them the ideal new publisher of amNewYork.”
Schneps owns 33 newspapers, 28 magazines and specialty publications and 20 websites, produces numerous podcasts and hosts 50 annual events. Among its publications are The Queens Courier, TimesLedger, The Brooklyn Paper, The Villager, Long Island Press and the Spanish-language paper Noticia Long Island.
“Moving forward Newsday Media Group will fully focus on serving Long Islanders with news, information and experiences as we continue to expand our multimedia products and platforms, and fulfill our mission of being the primary source of powerful local journalism as ‘Your Eye on LI,’ ” Krenek said.
Last month, Newsday moved into a new multimillion-dollar headquarters in Melville that will feature a television studio and auditorium capable of streaming live events on newsday.com.
Schneps president and publisher Victoria Schneps said: “We are delighted to add amNewYork to our media company. We thank Newsday for this opportunity to carry on the commitment of amNewYork to deliver the best and most important local news stories.”
Schneps started her company in the mid-1980s with a weekly paper published from the living room of her Bayside, Queens, home.
Her son Joshua Schneps, the company’s CEO and co-publisher, said, “We look forward to enhancing amNewYork’s brand through our expertise in multiplatform media, including print, digital, events, social media and broadcasting.”
