Cox Enterprises Inc., based in Atlanta, has put the Austin American-Statesman, which it owns since 1976, for sale. It also plans to sell all of its stand-alone newspapers in North Carolina, Colorado and Texas and Valpak, a direct-mail advertising operation.
Cox will keep the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Dayton Daily News and Palm Beach Post.
Cox executives said in the Statesman, that the sales would allow the privately-owned company to attain strategic goals, by helping pay down debt.