Jim Larkin, a Phoenix, Arizona native, started his career in publishing in the 1970s as the business manager of a 1970s Phoenix alternative weekly newspaper. In 1977, he and fellow Arizona State University dropout Michael Lacey took the newspaper private and changed the name to the Phoenix New Times. Lacey became editor and Larkin became publisher. The editor-publisher duo were called "Lacey'n'Larkin," and over the decades, they bought and started alternative weeklies across the country.
Newspaper business
The Phoenix New Times was an early and sustained success. Beginning in 1983, Lacey 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 interests in all 13 newspapers, but kept ownership of Backpage. The Phoenix New Times was consistently critical of Maricopa County, ArizonaSheriff 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
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 Department used information from a Senate hearing to come up with a massive 93-count indictment in March 2018. The indictment centered on Lacey and Larkin, and accused them and other company officers of money laundering, participating in a criminal conspiracy, and facilitating prostitution. In April it was announced that Backpage CEO Carl Ferrer had pleaded guilty and would testify against other Backpage officials. Company officials insist they hosted trafficking sites unwittingly. Backpage was shut down by federal authorities in April 2018. With the closure of Backpage, "devastated" sex workers turned to social media. To them, Backpage’s demise meant the end of safeguards and a reliable revenue stream in a profession that’s not going anywhere.
