User:Mwinog2777/jim larkin

Jim Larkin was publisher of Village Voice Media and co-owner of Backpage. He is currently under a 93-count federal indictment for soliciting prostitution.

Early Life
Jim Larkin, an Arizona native, became business manager of a 1970's Phoenix, Arizona, alternative weekly newspaper. After drifting away for a few years, in 1977 he joined with fellow ASU dropout, Michael Lacey,  took the newspaper private and changed the name to the Phoenix New Times. Lacey became editor and Larkin became publisher. They were called Lacey’n’Larkin, the editor-publisher duo who, over the decades, bought and started alternative weeklies across the country.

Newspaper business
Further information: Village Voice Media

The Phoenix New Times was an early and sustained success. Beginning in 1983 he and Larkin bought multiple other alternative newspapers, and by 2000 they owned eleven. In 2005 they bought the Village Voice and five others. The company, now called Village Voice Media, had a market value of $400 million and a combined circulation of 1.8 million.

The Internet devoured advertising profits. Village Voice Media reacted to decreased Internet advertising with Backpage.com, beginning in 2004, trying to maintain the company’s hold on ads for adult services. By 2010, after Craigslist shuttered its adult content section, Backpage.com had become the main financial driver of the company. In 2012 Lacey and Larkin left journalism, sold their his interests in all 13 newspapers, but, keeping ownership of Backpage.

The Phoenix New Times was consistently critical of the Maricopa County, Arizona, Sheriff Joe Arpaio. This led to a 2007 subpoena requesting the I.P. addresses of all who had visited the Phoenix New Times website over the past three years. When, as an act of civil disobedience, the Phoenix New Times published the subpoena, Lacey and Larkin were arrested for this act. Freed the next day, charges were dropped. Maricopa County settled with them for $3.75 million.

Backpage
Further information: Backpage

Backpage earned $135 million in 2014, according to a U.S. Senate report. A February 2015 appraisal said the company was worth more than $600 million The Justice Dept. used information from a Senste hearing to come up with a massive 93 count indictment in March, 2018, that centered on Lacey and Larkin, and accused them, and other company officers, with money laundering, participating in a criminal conspiracy and facilitating prostitution. In April it was announced that Backpage CEO Carl Ferrer had pleaded guilty and will testify against other Backpage officials. Company officials insists they hosted trafficking sites unwittingly. Backpage was shut down by federal authorities in April, 2018.

Honors

 * Arizona Civil Libertarian of the Year, 2008
 * Phoenix Business Journal, "Professional Recognition," (for standing up for migrants' rights) 2017

Links

 * President Trump signs anti-trafficking bill
 * Jana Bommersbach discusses Jim Larkin