By: Staff Reports WEALTHY LOCAL INVESTOR BUYS SANTA BARBARA DAILY
New York Times Co. Sells Another Daily
by Joel Davis
Santa Barbara, Calif., billionaire Wendy McCaw has reached an agreement to
purchase the Santa Barbara News-Press, the paper reported Sunday.
McCaw, an investor and philanthropist, beat out three well-known newspaper
chains for the News-Press, which the New York Times Co. put on the
market in February.
The News-Press recently reported that Copley Newspapers, Howard
Newspapers, and MediaNews Group, which all own newspapers in Southern
California, were competing for the paper. But it was McCaw's company,
Ampersand Holdings, that reached a deal to buy the paper on Friday, the
paper said. No sale price was released, but bidding for the 45,000-plus-
circulation daily was reportedly at $80 million to $100 million or more.
Although the News-Press was a disappointing performer for The New
York Times Co., it circulates in an affluent, educated market and it more or
less has the daily newspaper market to itself. McCaw would be the paper's
fourth owner in 36 years.
'It's going to be great to have truly local ownership,' Tom Bolton, the
News-Press' executive editor, told the paper.
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Joel Davis (jdavis@editorandpublisher.com) is West Coast
editor for Editor & Publisher magazine.
(c) Copyright 2000, Editor & Publisher
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