2 Louisville Newspapers Will Be Sold

Barry Bingham Sr. announced today that he is selling the family’s three media companies, including The Louisville Times and The Courier-Journal newspapers.

At the same time, Barry Bingham Jr., the owner’s son, tendered his resignation as editor and publisher of The Courier-Journal and The Louisville Times and vice chairman of WHAS Inc., which owns a television and radio station, and Standard Gravure. Bingham Jr. said he disagreed with his father’s decision, calling it “irrational and ill-advised.”

The family has owned the newspapers since 1918, when they were acquired by Bingham Sr.’s father, and has owned the other companies since the early 1920s.

Tax Policies Cited

Bingham Sr. said in a statement that tax policies made it difficult for family-held corporations to maintain control from one generation to another. He said that with control in the companies expanding to a fourth generation, “divergent interests are bound to develop among so many individuals.”

In a separate statement, Bingham Jr. said: “Other options have been presented to the family which would have preserved my management of at least one of the companies and in a strong financial condition for the future.”