Thomson to Sell 6 Papers, Research Unit

Thomson Corp., which is selling all of its newspapers except its flagship Globe & Mail in Toronto, said it will sell five of its dailies to Media General Inc. for $237 million and another one to Copley Press Inc. The company also announced plans to sell its Medstat Group, a consultant that provides database, software and research services to about 1,000 U.S.-based companies and government agencies. Thomson hopes to sell it by the end of the year. Media General, based in Richmond, Va., will buy Thomson’s newspapers in Alabama and South Carolina with a combined daily circulation of more than 90,000. Closely held Copley, based in San Diego, will buy the 64,000-circulation Repository in Canton, Ohio, for an undisclosed amount. The Canadian publisher said last week that it would sell 21 daily newspapers to Gannett Co. and 17 papers to Community Newspaper Holdings Inc. for $1.58 billion. The latest announcement brings the total of the sales to more than $2 billion. Five U.S. and five Canadian papers still remain to be sold. Media General class A shares rose 81 cents to close at $49.63 on the American Stock Exchange. The announcement was made after the close of U.S. trading.