By: (AP)
Updated at 3:55 p.m. ESTCanadian newspaper baron Conrad Black has sold his remaining 50% stake in the
National Post, the broadsheet he founded almost three years ago, to media conglomerate CanWest Global.
Black, speaking to reporters outside the
Post's headquarters Friday, said the newspaper would be better served by a single Canadian owner who had much wider domestic media interests.
"I found it painful to part with it but it was the responsible thing for the
Post," Black said,
adding that he is "proud" of what the paper has accomplished.
In an announcement late Thursday that stunned
National Post employees, CanWest announced Black would step down as publisher on Sept. 1.
The deal, expected to be finalized in March, is still subject to regulatory approval. No price was given for the sale, which also includes
Saturday Night and
National Post Business magazines.
Last November, Hollinger Group, Black's company, sold the majority of its Canadian daily newspapers to CanWest for $2 billion, including 50% of the
Post.
Black began selling his newspapers last year to focus on the company's international publications including the
Jerusalem Post, the
Chicago Sun-Times, and the
London Telegraph.
Black started the
Post in 1998 in order to fill what he perceived as a void in the Canadian media market and to go head-to-head against the country's other national newspaper,
The Globe and Mail.
Hollinger was once Canada's largest newspaper company, with about 55% of the country's dailies and 43% of total circulation.
Black and CanWest president Leonard Asper spoke to
Post employees in the paper's newsroom Friday
to outline the impact of the deal. "You will see very little if any editorial change in the
National Post," Asper told reporters.
Asper said editor Ken Whyte will remain at the helm, adding that while CanWest will continue to look at stemming the
Post's losses through more cooperation with its other media operations, layoffs so far aren't part of the plan.
In addition to newspapers, CanWest also has several television stations and cable channels as well as Internet properties.
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