Carpenter Media Group has agreed to purchase EO Media Group, which owns the Redmond Spokesman, The Bulletin and 10 other publications, effective Nov. 1.

All employees except some Central Oregon Media Group mail room employees will be retained. The Bulletin’s mail room employees were notified of their termination last week. 

CEO and Bulletin Publisher Heidi Wright will stay on through the end of the month to help with the transition, according to a statement by Kathryn Brown, EO Media Group vice president and publisher of The Other Oregon magazine. 

“I am committed to helping make this transition smooth and I continue to strongly support community journalism in Oregon,” Wright said Wednesday.

EO Media Group is a family owned news group that has owned and operated newspapers for 116 years over four generations, according to an email to employees. 

The company has experienced financial hardship recently. In June, it laid off 28 staffers, sold two buildings, suspended print editions of five of Eastern Oregon newspapers and reduced publishing days of The Bulletin in Bend. Owners have deferred quarterly dividends or bonuses in the past year and a half, according to Brown’s statement.

The family loaned the company a significant amount of money through the financial hardship, said Brown, who is part of the family that owns EOMG.

EO Media purchased The Bulletin and Redmond Spokesman in 2019 for $3.65 million in bankruptcy court from Western Communications.