Arkansas Business Publishing Group president to buy company, take on CEO role

Mitch Bettis, president of Arkansas Business Publishing Group
Mitch Bettis, president of Arkansas Business Publishing Group

Mitch Bettis, president of Arkansas Business Publishing Group of Little Rock, is purchasing the company from a limited partnership led by Olivia Myers Farrell, according to an announcement posted Monday on the Arkansas Business website.

The sale includes Arkansas Business newspaper, Little Rock Soirée magazine, Little Rock Family magazine and Flex360, a web development company and digital marketing agency, and other print and digital products within Arkansas Business Publishing Group, the announcement said.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

The sale is effective Feb. 28, at which time Bettis will become president and chief executive officer of Arkansas Business Publishing Group.

Farrell founded the company in 1995, but its roots date to 1984 and the founding of Arkansas Business as part of the Arkansas Writers Project. Farrell, who has been chief executive officer of the company, will retire.

Before joining Arkansas Business Publishing Group in 2014 as general manager and publisher of Arkansas Business, Bettis was regional publisher of for GateHouse Media of Fairport, N.Y. Bettis has been president of Arkansas Business Publishing Group since 2014.

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