Jeff Carneal, president of Eagle Publishing, has confirmed reports that the company is in talks to sell the company following the decision of founder Tom Phillips to retire. In a statement, Carneal said that “several qualified groups” have stepped up as potential buyers, but that no contract has been signed. Word about a possible sale first surfaced in a post on WND by Jerome Corsi who said Salem Communications was close to buying Eagle. Corsi has published several books with Eagle’s book division, Regnery Publishing. Carneal said it is “premature” to make any final announcement.
Salem is best known for its radio network and also owns Web sites and magazines. In 2006, it bought the Christian self-publishing company Xulon Press. For the first nine months of 2013 it had sales of about $174 million; revenue in its publishing division was flat at approximately $9 million. Like Eagle, Salem’s focus is on creating content aimed at a conservative audience. In addition to Regnery, Eagle owns the Conservative Book Club and the Human Events Group which publishes newsletters and Web sites on topics ranging from politics to economics to guns.
“Drawing on Tom’s powerful vision, superb management abilities, hard-earned capital, and experienced marketing skills, we built Eagle Publishing into a company that helped shape American public discourse through hard-hitting news, dozens of influential best-selling books, popular newsletters, and influential Web sites,” Carneal said in the statement.
