Nightly Business Report gets new owner

A company headed by "a former manager of mixed martial artists" has purchased Nightly Business Report, according to the New York Times. Mykalai Kontilai told the paper that the deal was completed Aug. 13 and the staff was informed today (Aug. 18). Kontilai's partner in the venture is Gary Ferrell, a former president and chief executive of North Texas Public Broadcasting, parent company of KERA in Dallas. The two also own Public Media, identified on its website as a "design, advertising and production" company. Rick Schneider, president of NBR's producing station WPBT in Miami, told the New York Times that NBR wasn’t in play when Kontilai approached him in February, but the sale "made sense," adding, "it is at a point where they as a company can do more things with it than we as a station could." NBR has undergone several recent major changes. In May 2009, longtime co-anchor Paul Kangas announced his retirement. His replacements, Susie Gharib and Tom Hudson, were announced last December.