Politico and capital New York merge ambitions

Politico publisher Robert Allbritton said he purchased the website Capital New York to extend his approach to news to the Empire State. "I have very big ambitions for this publication: to do in New York what we did in Washington with Politico," Allbritton said in a note to staff members. "I believe powerfully that non-partisan publications with an intense focus on a specific set of topics can break though quickly, editorially and financially," Allbritton said in a statement released Monday. "I'm excited to take the impressive work Benson and McGeveran did with Capital to the next level," he said, referring to Josh Benson and Tom McGeveran, who founded Capital New York and work as co-editors of the website. Benson and McGeveran will continue to run Capital New York, The New York Times reported. In a note posted on the website, the two co-founders said the acquisition would allow the company to be "much more ambitious than ever before about our editorial mission, which is to be a primary source of reporting for knowledgeable readers on the workings of the greatest city in the world." The deal, in some ways, is a custom fit as far as ambitions go. Capital New York's founders said they were looking for fresh capital to be able to expand their coverage, while Allbritton said in July, when he sold his family's seven television stations, that he was hoping to expand in the digital news business. Allbritton sold the television stations for close to $1 billion, the Times said. The deal with Capital New York closed last week, the companies said.