The
StarPhoenix was first published as
The Saskatoon Phoenix on October 17, 1902 (following a short-lived attempt at a local newspaper, the
Saskatoon Sentinel). In 1909, it became a daily paper and, in 1910, was renamed the
Saskatoon Capital. The paper was sold and bought several times between its inception and the 1920s, at one point being owned by
W. F. Herman, the future owner and publisher of the
Windsor Star. By 1927, there were two daily papers in Saskatoon: the
Saskatoon Daily Star and the
Daily Phoenix. In January 1928, both papers were bought by the Sifton family of
Winnipeg and amalgamated into the
Saskatoon Star-Phoenix. In the early 1980s the spelling of the newspaper name was modified to
StarPhoenix. Between the 1928 amalgamation and the launch of the Saskatoon edition of
Metro in April 2016, the
StarPhoenix was the city's only daily newspaper. In the early-1990s, the paper was owned by Armadale, but it changed hands in 1995 when it was purchased by
Conrad Black, making the paper part of
Hollinger International. Days after Black's purchase, dozens of employees were fired from the paper in the name of cost cutting with no regard for longevity of service (decades in some cases), a firm testament to "Black's views on what he calls demanning." The paper was later, in 2000, sold to
CanWest Global Communications and became part of its
Southam Newspapers division, later called the
CanWest News Service; in 2003 ownership was noted as being by
Canwest Global, while in 2004 ownership was CanWest MediaWorks. CanWest was acquired by Postmedia News, Inc., which is the current owner of
The StarPhoenix. In 2015, the
StarPhoenix press began printing the
Regina Leader-Post, in addition to its own print edition, after the Leader-Post's own press was shut down. In 2023,
Postmedia announced that the
StarPhoenix press would be shut down and the building be put up for sale. Both the
StarPhoenix and
Leader-Post were to continue publication, but printed at a facility in
Estevan. The reporting staff, working from home since March 2020 at the beginning of the
COVID-19 pandemic, were to continue doing so on a permanent basis. == Circulation ==