Mid-Columbia Media Inc., a subsidiary of Cowles Co., has agreed to acquire the assets of Tri Comp Inc., which publishes the Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business and the Senior Times newspapers. 

The transaction is scheduled to be completed Dec. 30, and all the newspapers’ five nonownership employees have been invited to stay on board. Melanie Hoefer, who founded the Tri-Cities business journal, plans to exit the publishing field after a 27-year career and focus on her consulting business. Both parties declined to disclose the terms of the transaction. 

Paul Read, publisher of the Spokane Journal of Business, will oversee Mid-Columbia Media, but day-to-day operations will be led primarily by the Tri-Cities staff. Cowles owns the Journal in Spokane under a separate subsidiary. 

Read says, “They have built a great local product, and our intent is that it remains integral to and focused on the market it so capably serves.” 

In a prepared statement, Cowles Co. President Stacey Cowles says, “We think the Journal team does excellent work, and we don’t anticipate major changes.” 

He adds that the company hopes to implement better internal tools for staff that will expand online and print offerings eventually. 

The Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business is published monthly, as is the Senior Times.