LEO Sold, Four Employees Not Retained

The Louisville Eccentric Observer, better known as LEO, has been sold to Tennessee based SouthComm Communications.LEO’s Pennsylvania based owners decided to sell the paper because of the high cost to refurbish printing equipment. LEO will be the only alt-weekly owned by SouthComm, which currently manage chamber of commerce magazines for several southern cities,  as well as some news and entertainment websites.LEO publisher Pam Brooks says she’s working with the new management to revamp the paper’s design and expand its content.“We’re looking to sell more advertising and to provide more pages for editorial and we’ll also be looking at opportunities to publish other types of publications in this market," she says.Brooks says she doesn’t think LEO will lose its local flavor with the purchase. Four staff members will not be retained by the new owner, including Editor Cary Stemle.