Creative Loafing Tampa Bay Sold, Now Under Local Ownership

The Scoop: Fri. Jan. 16, 2026 Tampa Bay and Florida headlines by WMNF

Creative Loafing Tampa Bay now has local owners Creative Loafing now has local owners. In a press release, CL editor in chief Ray Roa wrote, “a group of current employees and two new partners completed the purchase of Tampa Bay’s 39-year-old alt-weekly.” Republicans in the State House pass lower age limits for guns Activists are speaking out against a bill that passed the Florida House on Thursday. It would lower the minimum age to purchase or t…

Creative Loafing Tampa Bay sold, now under local ownership

San Antonio-based Chava Communications has sold Creative Loafing (CL) Tampa Bay to a group of current employees and two new partners. It’s the first time in 18 years the local alt-weekly publication will be under local control. Chava Communications had owned it since 2023. Prior to that, it was owned by Cleveland-based Euclid Media Group from 2018 until 2023; SouthComm Inc., in Nashville, from 2011 to 2018; and the New York-based Atalaya hedge f…

Creative Loafing Tampa Bay has been sold, and is locally-owned for the first time since 2009

A vintage Creative Loafing Tampa Bay stand in April 2020. For the first time in 18 years, Creative Loafing Tampa Bay is locally-owned. On Thursday