Canadian business deals (1969–present) In 1969, Alan Black and Clive Stangoe acquired the
Williams Lake Tribune of
Williams Lake, BC. The weekly newspaper had previously been owned by Northwest Publications, where Alan Black worked as a manager. After the company dissolved, he acquired a majority stake in the company's smallest title alongside Stangoe, who worked as the paper's publisher. for $60,000. Black operated the
Tribune exclusively for four years until purchasing the husband-and-wife owned
Ashcroft-Cache Creek Journal in nearby
Ashcroft in 1979. Black continued to purchase other newspapers over time and soon formed newspaper clusters around Victoria and Vancouver.In June 1980, Black acquired the
Lakes District News Houston Today. At some point prior he had also acquired the
Smithers Interior News. In 1984, Black purchased a majority stake in three newspapers and two web printing plants on
Vancouver Island. The sale included
Goldstream Gazette,
Ladysmith-Chemainus Chronicle and
Parksville-Qualicum News-Advertiser. The papers were merged into a new company which would also manage
Sidney Review, which had been acquired earlier. The sale brought the total number of newspapers owned by Black up to 12. In 1987, Black acquired the Salmon Arm Observer group on newspapers, which included the
Chase-Shuswap Weekly,
Eagle Valley News and
Salmon Arm Observer. In 1992, Black acquired the
100 Mile House Free Press. In 1997, Black acquired 33 publications in western Canada from Trinity International Holdings PLC of Britain for $58 million. The sale included the
Red Deer Advocate. By this time Black Press Ltd. had been established as Cariboo Press's parent company. On September 19, 2002,
Torstar Corporation announced that it was investing $20 million to acquire a 19.35% share in Black Press. At that time Black Press published 88 newspapers and had 11 printing plants. Annual revenues at the time were $240 million. In 2006, Black Press acquired
UsedEverywhere.com, a Canadian online classified website. The website re-branded to
Used.ca in 2015. On June 27, 2007, Black Press announced a $405 million takeover offer for
Osprey Media, putting it in competition with
Quebecor Media for Osprey's assets. Quebecor put in a higher bid and won ownership of Osprey. it owned about 150 newspapers. In July 2010, Black Press acquired the
Red Deer Express from Great West Newspapers, LP. The company acquired two other Central Alberta publications, the
Sylvan Lake News and
Eckville Echo, in June 2011. The two weekly newspapers were owned by Barry and Darlene Hibbert. In July 2011, Black Press purchased of the
Cranbrook Daily Townsman and the
Kimberley Daily Bulletin by Don Kendall. At the time the two dallies published Monday to Friday, had a combined circulation of 5,000. In 2013, Black Press and
Glacier Media Inc. exchanged four community newspapers in British Columbia. That led to the closure of
Abbotsford Times. In 2014, Black Press negotiated deals with Glacier Media Inc. to take effect in March 2015 that would exchange a dozen British Columbia newspapers that consolidated ownership of competing community papers on
Vancouver Island and the
Lower Mainland. Black Press obtained
Harbor City Star,
Nanaimo Daily News,
Cowichan Citizen,
Parksville Oceanside Star,
Tofino/Ucluelet Westerly News,
Comox Valley Echo,
Campbell River Courier,
Surrey Now and
Langley Advance. In August 2014, Black Press acquired
Yukon News from owner Stephen Robertson. In March 2021, Black Press purchased
Northern News Services Limited of
Yellowknife,
Northwest Territories, which publishes five newspapers in the Northwest Territories and two in
Nunavut. In April 2023, Black Press entered a partnership with
Village Media to license its custom content management system called Villager. The migration of Black Press sites will be completed in 2024. On January 15, 2024, Black Press entered
CCAA bankruptcy protection and announced a sales agreement. Founder David Black resigned as president shortly after the announcements. On January 16, Black Press filed for
Chapter 15 bankruptcy in the United States. At the time of the bankruptcy, Black Press has 144 publications, including 35 in Washington under its Sound Publishing subsidiary.
Washington business deals (1987–present) In 1987, David Black sold a 21% equity stake in his company to
Shaw Communications to fund the purchase of about 15 newspapers. He bought stake back in 1990. In 2006, Black Press purchased nine newspapers from the family-owned Horvitz Newspapers Inc. The sale included the 41,000-circulation daily
King County Journal; two weeklies, the
Mercer Island Reporter and
Snoqualmie Valley Record; and seven bi-weeklies
, the
Auburn Reporter, Bellevue Reporter, Bothell/Kenmore Reporter, Covington/Maple Valley Reporter, Kent Reporter, Redmond Reporter and Renton Reporter. The
King County Journal printed its last issue on Jan. 21, 2007. Forty full-time employees were laid off. Ten staffers were moved to weekly sister publications, and one was moved to marketing staff. In June 2008, Black Press purchased
The Enumclaw Courier-Herald, along with a 4-year-old sibling publication that serves the Bonney Lake/Lake Tapps area. The paper's were previously owned by the estate of Ted Natt along with John Natt, David Natt and current publisher Bill Marcum. By July 2008, Black Press owned 15 community newspapers around the Seattle area, including 12 under the Reporter Newspapers brand, including the newly created
Issaquah/Sammamish Reporter and the S
umner/Lake Tapps Reporter. Overall, the mostly free weeklies in King County reached about 300,000 households at the time. In October 2008, Black Press purchased the
Marysville Globe, Arlington Times, the regional
Express Shopper and monthly business publications the
Wenatchee Business Journal and the
Bellingham Business Journal from Sun News Inc. The 3,400-circulation
Wenatchee Business Journal was traded in August 2011 to CW Media, Inc. in exchange for the
Okanogan Valley Gazette-Tribune.
The Globe,
The Times, and Bellingham Business Journal were are closed in April 2020 due to the
COVID-19 recession in the United States. That same month Black Press acquired
Peninsula Daily News and
Sequim This Week from Horvitz Newspapers. In January 2013,
Voice Media Group sold
Seattle Weekly to Black Press. The alt-weekly ceased its print edition and became an online-only publication in February 2019. In February 2013, Black purchased
The Everett Herald, a daily newspaper near
Seattle. It had previously been owned for 35 years by the
Washington Post Company. In October 2014, Black Press purchased six newspapers from
Stephens Media, including
The Daily World in Aberdeen, the
Montesano Vidette, the
North Coast News in Ocean Shores and the
South Beach Bulletin in Westport.
The Honolulu Advertiser was acquired in 2010 and merged with the
Star-Bulletin to create the
Honolulu Star-Advertiser. In October 2014, Black Press purchased six newspapers from
Stephens Media. The sale included
West Hawaii Today and
Hawaii Tribune-Herald, as well as a 50% interest in Hawaii.com
. Akron Beacon Journal (2006–2018) In 2006, Black Press acquired the
Akron Beacon Journal, the former
Knight Ridder flagship in Northeast Ohio, for $165 million. Black Press sold the paper in April 2018 to
GateHouse Media and acquired the
Juneau Empire, Peninsula Clarion and
Homer News in Alaska from GateHouse.
San Francisco Media Co. (2011–2020) In 2011, David Black was one of several newspaper industry veterans who joined as investors in the San Francisco Newspaper Company to buy the former
Hearst flagship
The San Francisco Examiner from Clarity Media Group. Media outlets initially reported the paper was purchased by Black's company Black Press, but Black only participated as a private investor and held shares in the
Examiner separately from Black Press. The company acquired the
San Francisco Bay Guardian from Bruce Brugmann in April 2012 and
SF Weekly from
Voice Media Group in January 2013. In May 2014, Vogt announced plans to sell his shares of the company to Black Press' Hawaiian-subsidy Oahu Publications Inc., or to buy Black out of the company by the end of the month. "Unless I can find local partners, I'm not gonna do the deal," Vogt told staff. "I've got 25 days to do a deal or sell out." Vogt did sell to Oahu, which subsequently became San Francisco Media Co.'s parent company. Dennis Francis, president of Oahu Publications, became the company's new president, and in August 2014, Glenn Zuehls was named publisher. In October 2014, Zuehls announced
Bay Guardian, saying "the obstacles for a profitable
Bay Guardian are too great to overcome." In 2020, San Francisco Media Co., including the
Examiner and
SF Weekly, was sold to Clint Reilly Communications. == Newspapers in Canada ==