San Diego Union-Tribune Saved

Private equity firm, Platinum Equity, in cooperation with Black Press bought the parent company of The San Diego Union-Tribune, Union-Tribune, today.

According to the Union-Tribune, “Platinum specializes in acquiring businesses facing complex operational challenges in declining or transitioning markets. Since its founding in 1995, the firm has completed more than 100 acquisitions in a range of industries.”

Black Press was founded in 1985 by David Black and currently publishes 18 award-winning community newspapers&#151mostly in Canada, though they expanded in to the United States in 2000 with the purchase of the Honolulu Star-Bulletin and in 2006 purchased the Akron (Ohio) Beacon Journal.

The San Diego Union-Tribune has been up for sale since June of 2008. The paper has slowly been reducing its print edition since 2006.

News of this purchase could not be more opportune. With staff reductions announced for the San Francisco Chronicle, the ending of Seattle Post-Intelligencer‘s print edition and the closure of the Rocky Mountain News, the industry was in dire need of some hopeful reports. This maybe just what local newspapers need to shore up new investment interests.

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