UK newco Clear Sky Publishing, formed by former Archant regional newspaper employees, has bought three south west of England news titles from Archant: Torbay Weekly, North Devon Gazette and the magazine Exeter Life. Clear Sky has been formed by Archant’s former chair Simon Bax and the MD of Torbay Weekly, Chris Coward. Torbay Weekly was launched at the start of the UK’s pandemic lockdown in 2020 and has developed a model of community content which the company hopes to replicate across Devon. All staff will move across to the new company. Terms not disclosed but it is believed that Bax has a shareholding in Archant and, therefore, that this latest deal may have involved relinquishing those shares and also some level of collaboration between the two companies.
Archant UK local deal
