The Village Voice has come under new ownership, and will relaunch starting next month, The New York Times reports. According to the Times, the publication has been purchased by Brian Calle, current owner of LA Weekly and chief executive of Street Media. Calle plans to relaunch The Village Voice digitally in January 2021, with quarterly print issues to follow early in the year.
The Village Voice officially shuttered in 2018, almost one year after its final print issue was released. Calle acquired The Village Voice from owner Peter D. Barbey, who purchased the publication in 2015 from the Voice Media Group. In addition to purchasing the paper, Calle has hired Bob Baker, a former editor for The Village Voice, as a senior editor and content coordinator. Calle told the Times that he hopes to bring former staff members back on board.
Calle’s purchase of The Village Voice comes roughly three years after he acquired LA Weekly (also from the Voice Media Group)—an event met with much controversy. Following Calle’s acquisition of the publication, nine of 13 editorial staffers at LA Weekly were fired, a boycott ensued, and Calle and other LA Weekly backers were hit with a lawsuit from David Welch, who alleged that the paper had been mismanaged. The suit was settled in 2019.