Portland Loo
When Portland commissioned the design of the loos, it retained the intellectual property rights to the design, and would receive a royalty from the manufacturer, for each loo it sold. Press reports described this arrangement as a source of funds, for the city.
However, in 2014, a citizen group sued the city, asserting the city had spent over $600,000 to promote the loos, without proper authorization. As a consequence the design was sold to Madden, the manufacturer.
Portland Press Herald
After more than a year on the market, on June 15, 2009, the papers were sold to MaineToday Media, Inc., headed by Maine native Richard L. Connor, publisher of "Times Leader" in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, with financing from HM Capital Partners and Citizens Bank. Although MaineToday originally announced a plan to move the paper's offices out of downtown into the South Portland printing plant, it was later reported that the company's headquarters would move to One City Center in downtown Portland.