• by Erik Sass , April 1, 2016

This Old House is going private in a transaction funded by private equity investor TZP Growth Partners, spinning production company This Old House Ventures from longtime owner Time Inc. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Leading the transition is Eric Thorkilsen, an investor and media veteran who helped build the brand as a Time Inc. executive in the 1990s, including the launch of the eponymous magazine. It was an early example of the TV print spinoffs that would become popular in later years.

Thorkilsen, who also helped build the Martha Stewart brand, will serve as CEO of the independent company.

Susan Wyland, previously a managing editor at Real Simple, will replace Scott Omelianuk as editor in chief; Omelianuk is leaving the business after 12 years in the top editorial spot.

This Old House magazine has fared better than many of its print peers in recent years, thanks to a relatively stable subscription base. The magazine’s paid circulation remained basically stable at around 956,000 from 2011-2015, according to figures from the Audit Bureau of Circulations and its successor, the Alliance for Audited Media.

The deal is part of an interesting old/new trend in which media industry veterans return to brands that they help launch years before, or even launching niche publishing empires themselves.

Earlier this year, Jack Kliger, the former CEO of Hachette Filipacchi from 1999 to 2008 and a top exec at Condé Nast before that, relaunched a small publication he bought in 2014, British Heritage.

Also, Playboy is exploring options that include a possible buyout bringing back founder Hugh Hefner and previous management execs.