thumb|Early 2000s Creative Loafing paper
Creative Loafing is an Atlanta-based publisher of an arts and culture news and events newspaper/magazine. The company historically published a weekly publication that once had a 160,000 weekly circulation. While Creative Loafing is no longer publishing a newspaper, it continues to be Atlanta's primary calendar of cultural events. The company has historically been a part of the alternative weekly newspapers association in the United States.
Creative Loafing began as a family-owned business in 1972 by Deborah and Chick Eason, expanding to other cities in the Southern United States in the late 1980s and 1990s. In 2007 it doubled its circulation with the purchase of the Chicago Reader and Washington City Paper; the $40 million debt it incurred, along with a Great Recession, forced the company into bankruptcy one year later. The parent company, Creative Loafing, Inc. was dissolved and Atalaya sold off the Chicago Reader. In 2012, SouthComm purchased all of the properties and then sold off each of the papers to other publishers in 2018.
The Atlanta Creative Loafing launched the career of many writers and has been an institution in Atlanta's cultural scene. The Parrotheads of Jimmy Buffett fame were launched from an ad in Creative Loafing in the 1990s. Best-selling author and American humorist Hollis Gillespie by debuting her weekly column "Moodswing," which first appeared in 2001 and ran for eight years. Jill Rhodes, the ex-wife of Sean Hannity, was the managing editor of the newspaper 1993–1996 until their move to New York City, which commenced Sean Hannity's television career. Mara Shaloup won a Clarion Award for her work breaking the Black Mafia story in 2006. Investigative reporter and CL Editor CB Hackworth's piece on racial segregation brought Oprah Winfrey to Forsyth County to confront overt racism in 1987.
Holdings
Creative Loafing, LLC is the name of the Publishing Company that owns Creative Loafing. Creative Loafing, LLC purchased the assets of Creative Loafing Atlanta from SouthComm in February 2017, which put the paper back into the Eason family's hands.
- Creative Loafing (Atlanta) of Atlanta, Georgia, sold in July 2012 to SouthComm Communications
- Chicago Reader of Chicago, Illinois, sold in May 2012 to Wrapports
- Creative Loafing Charlotte of Charlotte, North Carolina, sold in October 2011 to SouthComm, sold in August 2014 to Womack Newspapers
- Creative Loafing Sarasota of Sarasota, Florida, sold in December 2010 to the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, merged into Ticket
- Creative Loafing Tampa of Tampa, Florida, sold in October 2011 to SouthComm
- Creative Loafing Savannah of Savannah, Georgia, sold in 2001 to Debby Eason, merged into Connect Savannah
- Gwinnett Loaf in north suburban Atlanta, Georgia, closed in April 2001
- The Scene nightlife weekly of Atlanta, Georgia, closed in March 2001 sold to Independent Weekly
- Topside Loaf in north suburban Atlanta, Georgia, closed in April 2001 They originally began publishing it from the basement of their home in the Morningside neighborhood of Atlanta. After a trial run of a monthly magazine called P-s-s-t . . . A Guide to Creative Loafing in Atlanta, the Easons decided to launch a weekly free publication titled simply Creative Loafing. The four-person editorial staff operated out of the living and dining rooms of the Easons' Morningside home; the darkroom was in the basement. The print run of the first edition—all of eight pages—was 12,000 copies. and in 1988 in Tampa, Florida.
Two years later, in September 2000, he and his two sisters led a group of investors to purchase a controlling interest in the entire Creative Loafing chain, and subsequently brought the Planet papers into the fold. After a false start during which the May 31, 2006, edition of Tampa's Planet was prematurely published with a Creative Loafing banner, the Tampa paper officially reverted to its former name and the Sarasota paper became Creative Loafing Sarasota. An uneasy four-year relationship between the two companies followed, as Cox also owned Atlanta's only daily, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, as well as television and radio outlets in the Atlanta area. After the Journal-Constitution in April 2003 quietly launched its own free entertainment weekly named Access Atlanta, in direct competition with Creative Loafing, the Easons and Creative Loafing board members voted to censure the two Cox executives for unethical conduct, and by June 2004 both companies agreed to allow the chain to repurchase its shares from Cox.
Chicago and Washington
On July 24, 2007, Creative Loafing announced the purchase of the Washington City Paper and the Chicago Reader, along with the Reader properties The Straight Dope and the SDMB, the associated Internet message board.
In order to accomplish the acquisitions, the company borrowed $40 million. The ensuing economic slump hurt ad sales, and CL Inc. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on September 29, 2008.
In a bankruptcy auction on August 25, 2009, Atalaya Capital Management of New York City, emerged as the new owner, paying $5 million (it was also CL's largest creditor, owed $30 million before the bankruptcy). The Easons had put in a bid of $2.3 million, and with the change in ownership, Ben Eason was removed as CEO. In 2017, Ben Eason re-purchased Creative Loafing Atlanta and it then went from weekly to monthly print publication. In 2018, Creative Loafing Tampa was sold to a group from Ohio. That same Creative Loafing Charlotte went online-only. In 2022, Creative Loafing Atlanta went online-only.