Metro Times Publisher Chris Sexson has announced via Facebook that he is leaving the paper for a new job, and suggests a sale for Detroit's longtime alternative weekly is in the works.
Sexson, who did not respond to an email seeking comment, appears to have failed in an attempt to buy Metro Times.
"I will be leaving the Metro Times at the end of the year," Sexson said. "To make a long story short, my bid to purchase MT was not accepted. Another group is buying the division."
Sexson had served as MT publisher since 2008, when he moved from the San Antonio Current. Both papers are owned by Pennsylvania-based Times-Shamrock Communications, which announced in September it was selling its properties in Detroit and several other cities.
After the sale was announced, Metro Times fired longtime reporter Curt Guyette after Guyette told Deadline Detroit that the paper was on the market -- information that already had been posted on the Times-Shamrock website. In his email exchange with a Deadline Detroit editor, Guyette refused to discuss what he knew about the sale, citing the management's request that staffers not comment.
The longtime MT editor, W. Kim Heron, resigned last December.
Sexson said he has found a job with another alternative newspaper chain, Southcomm, which owns papers in Washington D.C. and Atlanta, among other cities. He'll be director of business development.
"Cheers Detroit! I'll miss you," Sexson said in closing.
Previously on Deadline Detroit:
Metro Times Fires Veteran Staffer Curt Guyette-- For Talking to the Press
