SBJ Publishing sells Joplin Tri-State Business Journal

SBJ Publishing Inc. closed yesterday on the sale of the Joplin Tri-State Business Journal.

Larry and Mikell Warren, owners of Atlas Risk Management LLC in Joplin, purchased the publication for an undisclosed amount.

“We looked at it strictly as a business investment, not only for ourselves, but for the community,” said Larry Warren, who is also chairman of the board for the Joplin Area Chamber of Commerce. “Being a small-business owner, we see a lot of value in knowing what industries are growing and what other business owners are doing.

"We see what Joplin Tri-State Business Journal has done for our own business.”

JTBJ was founded in 2006 by Springfield-based SBJ Publishing Inc., which has owned and operated Springfield Business Journal since its inception in 1980.  

“We have believed for some time that Joplin Tri-State Business Journal would grow even more with a local or regional publisher in place,” SBJ Publishing President and Chairwoman Dianne Elizabeth Osis said. “When a prominent local businessman – and incoming chairman of the Joplin Area Chamber of Commerce – came forward with his interest, we thought this would be ideal.”

The purchase includes equipment, advertising contracts and a current lease in the Joseph Newman Business and Technology Innovation Center in Joplin. JTBJ Editor Carole Liston and reporter David Mink have been retained.

SBJ Publishing Publisher Jennifer Jackson said although she feels JTBJ has been successful in its mission, the SBJ team has faced specific challenges in trying to manage the publication from Springfield.

“Joplin Tri-State Business Journal in seven short years is a decade ahead of where Springfield Business Journal was in the same time in its lifespan,” Jackson said. “But it’s a mistake to believe that all things are equal.

"Joplin is a unique community, and it really deserves and needs someone that truly knows the community and knows its business players. By definition, that’s what a business journal is.”

JTBJ delivers print and digital editions of its paper and has a subscription rate of about 900. It also publishes an email update three times a week, with a subscription rate of more than 2,100. The publication is two issues into its eighth volume.[[In-content Ad]]