Salem Media Group’s sale of its Regnery Publishing division, which was said to be dead in late November, has been revived. On December 21, Skyhorse Publishing announced that it had signed an agreement to purchase Regnery, one of America’s best-known publishers of conservative authors. On December 28, Skyhorse said the purchase had been completed.
“We are so pleased to acquire this legendary publishing company, founded over 75 years ago, and are committed to building on the strong foundation that the Regnery staff has developed,” said Skyhorse president and publisher Tony Lyons in a statement. Regnery’s sales in 2023 are projected to be approximately $10 million. Regnery, which has a list of about 1,550 titles, will become an imprint of Skyhorse Publishing and will maintain its own identity, with Lyons serving as Regnery publisher. A handful of Regnery employees are joining Skyhorse.
Lyons has built Skyhorse through a long series of acquisitions and Regnery joins the publisher’s eclectic list of 20 imprints that range from Allworth Press to Yucca Publishing. In all, Skyhorse has more than 10,000 titles in print.
The addition of Regnery will give Skyhorse an even bigger profile as a home for conservative authors. Among the authors Regnery has published: former President Donald Trump, Senator Rand Paul, Senator Ted Cruz, Senator Mitt Romney, Tulsi Gabbard, former President Ronald Reagan, and Ann Coulter. Regnery’s sales in 2023 are projected to be approximately $10 million. Skyhorse plans to release 60-70 titles in 2024 and will continue to include Christian titles as wiel as political books, including Eric Metaxas' Religionless Christianity: God’s Answer to Evil.
In recent years, Skyhorse has published a growing number of controversial authors, including Alex Jones, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and Woody Allen, that more mainstream—and bigger—publishers have either refused to publish or dropped. In the release announcing the purchase of Regnery, Skyhorse stressed its commitment to stand against censorship, noting that it “aims to provide a full spectrum of political, theological, cultural, and philosophical viewpoints to counter the increasingly biased environment in mainstream media.” Earlier this year, Lyons was named to the board of the National Coalition Against Censorship. Lyons is also cochairman of a super PAC that supports Kennedy's presidential bid.
The sale of Regnery is part of a Salem divestiture program aimed at lowering its debt. In its financial filing for the period ended September 30, Salem reported that it sold three radio stations in the period and expected to soon close on three other transactions. In a conference call discussing the third quarter, executives said they were continuing to evaluate other assets that it could sell. Sources had told PW that Regnery was one of those properties, but later said that the deal had been called off.
This story has been updated to include the news that the acquisition has been closed.
