The Santa Rosa Press Democrat has been sold to MediaNews Group, the company which also has a majority stake in the nearby Marin Independent Journal. The sale was first reported Thursday on the PD’s website, pressdemocrat.com.
MediaNews Group acquires the print and digital portfolio of Sonoma Media Investments, the Press Democrat’s parent company, which also includes Sonoma magazine, the Sonoma Index-Tribune, the Petaluma Argus-Courier, the Sonoma County Gazette and the North Bay Business Journal.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
According to the company’s website, MediaNews Group’s network publishes 77 daily and more than 150 weekly publications throughout the United States. Its publications include the Chicago Tribune, the Denver Post, the San Jose Mercury News, the Orange County Register, the Boston Herald and the San Diego Union-Tribune.
In a media statement about the sale, SMI majority owner Darius Anderson stressed his belief that an independent press is “vital to our North Bay community.”
“We believe that the newspaper, its staff and most importantly the public will be best served under the stewardship of MediaNews Group, with the newspaper expertise and financial resources necessary to carry on our mission of delivering the highest-caliber local journalism for future North Bay generations,” said Anderson.
The Press Democrat will be MediaNews Group’s second connection to a daily newspaper in the North Bay. The Marin Independent Journal is published by the California Newspaper Partnership, whose majority owner is MediaNews Group.
MediaNews Group, in turn, is a subsidiary of Alden Global Capital, a New York-based hedge fund known for buying up newspapers, slashing budgets and trimming staff.
Frank Pine, executive editor of MediaNews Group, said in the media statement he was honored to bring the PD into the MediaNews portfolio.
“We appreciate the importance of local news and information to the communities where we publish and are proud to expand our commitment to Northern California in the North Bay,” Pine said.
A potential sale of the PD has been whispered about for months; earlier reports connected it to a deal being worked out with the Hearst Corp., which publishes the San Francisco Chronicle.
Established in 2012, Sonoma Media Investments had been led by Managing Partner Darius Anderson, a real estate developer and lobbyist. Local investors in SMI included former Citigroup CEO Sandy Weill, former Dolby Sound CEO Bill Jasper, former Congressman Doug Bosco, retired Intel executive Les Vadasz, and Jean Schulz, wife of the late “Peanuts” creator Charles Schulz.
More details to come.
