Acquisitions

Los Angeles billionaire Dr. Patrick Soon-shiong has sold The San

Diego Union-tribune to an affiliate of the Medianews Group for an undisclosed amount. Denver-based Medianews Group is owned by Alden Global Capital, which owns roughly 200 publications, including the Chicago Tribune.

Ward Media, LLC has acquired four weekly publications and a monthly business journal in North Central Washington from NCW Media, Inc. The newspapers involved in this transaction are the Leavenworth Echo, Cashmere Valley Record, Lake Chelan Mirror, Quad City Herald and the Wenatchee Business Journal — all of which have been serving the vibrant communities in the heart of Washington State. Terry Ward and Amy Yaley are owners of Ward Media, LLC.

KERA, North Texas’ source for PBS and NPR programming, and the Denton (Texas) Record-chronicle, Denton County’s primary source of local news online and in print, have completed their previously announced acquisition. The Recordchronicle will convert to become a nonprofit organization and a wholly owned LLC operated by KERA. The Record-chronicle will remain a local news organization headquartered in Denton and led by Publisher

Bill Patterson.

Family-owned News-press Gazette & Company announces that it has, after decades of local ownership, sold its newspapers located outside St. Joseph, Missouri, to the Parsippany, New Jersey, based company, Cherryroad Media. The sale, which did not include St. Joseph News-press or NPG Printing, was finalized on Aug. 1.

News Media Corporation has sold its Colorado cluster of newspapers to Louie Mullen. The sale included Valley Courier daily in Alamosa, Monte Vista Journal, The Del Norte Prospector, The Conejos County Citizen, Center Post-dispatch, The Mineral County Miner, The South Fork Times and SLV Lifestyles.

Times Media Group President Steve Strickbine has announced that his company has acquired Picket Fence Media’s award-winning Southern California brands. Picket Fence Media publishes the weekly San Clemente Times, Dana Point Times and the bi-weekly Capistrano Dispatch (covering San Juan Capistrano and Rancho Mission Viejo). The group joins Times Media Group’s other Southern California community news properties, including the Pasadena Weekly, LA Downtown News, The Argonaut in Santa Monica and the Ventura County Reporter, among others.

Steinman Communications Inc. and WITF Inc. have completed a transaction that gifts LNP | Lancasteronline to WITF, setting the combined organization on a path to innovate a new model for local news, community education and civic engagement in Central Pennsylvania. LNP has been converted to a Pennsylvania Benefit Corporation and is now a WITF subsidiary.

With advertising shrinking and newspapers vanishing, Maine’s largest newspaper group became the latest to try a nonprofit model with the completion of the sale of more than 20 daily and weekly newspapers, including the Portland Press Herald. The National Trust for Local News, which already owns two dozen newspapers in Colorado, is expanding its portfolio through the purchase of five daily newspapers and 17 weekly newspapers that were part of Masthead Maine. Former Masthead owner Reade Brower retained ownership of several weeklies that weren’t part of the deal. The newspapers will now fall under the umbrella of the Maine Trust for Local News.

One of the most iconic and challenging foot race events in the country — with a 4.5-mile course crisscrossing centuryold staircases and streets in the historic mining town of Old Bisbee — has been purchased by Wick Communications from Bisbee Vogue Inc. for an undisclosed amount. The family-owned media company, whose flagship newspaper is the Sierra Vista (Arizona) Herald/review, owns more than two dozen newspapers in 13 states along with dozens of specialty publications, websites and other digital media. It will take over operating the Bisbee 1000 The Great Stair Climb next year.

Hearst has completed its acquisition of Fort Myers, Florida, NBC affiliate WBBH from Waterman Broadcasting Corporation. Under the transaction, Hearst assumes Waterman Broadcasting’s programming relationship with Montclair Communications, Inc., owner of ABC affiliate WZVN, which also broadcasts the METV and Dabl networks on its digital sub-channels.

Greg Hoskins’ Better Newspapers Inc. has purchased the Daily Journal (the Parkland regional newspaper), Fredericktown Democrat News, Farmington Press, and Advantage from Lee Enterprises.

Nebraska’s oldest African-american owned newspaper has a new owner. The publisher of The Omaha Star is now the owner of The Omaha Star.