King County Journal papers sold
Published 9:00 pm Wednesday, November 22, 2006
SEATTLE – The King County Journal Newspapers are being sold to Black Press Ltd., which publishes the Honolulu Star-Bulletin and owns more than 100 community publications in western Canada and the United States, both sides announced Wednesday.
Peter Horvitz, president of Horvitz Newspapers Inc., which owns the King County papers, and David Black, president of Canada’s Black Press Ltd., jointly announced the purchase agreement in a faxed statement.
The sale is expected to close Nov. 30. No terms were announced.
Black Press representatives will visit the newspapers Monday to meet employees, the statement said.
King County Journal Newspapers publishes the daily King County Journal, the weekly Mercer Island Reporter and Snoqualmie Valley Record and the monthly Snoqualmie Valley Living. It also publishes nine community newspapers produced twice a month, including the Auburn Reporter, Bellevue Reporter, Bothell Reporter, Covington Reporter, Kenmore Reporter, Kent Reporter, Maple Valley Reporter, Redmond Reporter and Renton Reporter.
Black Press’s Sound Publishing group publishes community newspapers on Washington’s Kitsap Peninsula, Whidbey Island, San Juan Islands, Vashon-Maury Island and in Federal Way.
Horvitz Newspapers also owns the daily Peninsula Daily News in Port Angeles and The Daily Times in Maryville, Tenn.
The Akron, Ohio, Beacon Journal was purchased earlier this year by Black Press Ltd.’s Sound Publishing subsidiary.
Additional details on the King County purchase agreement were not immediately available. A phone message left for Horvitz and an e-mail to Black at his British Columbia headquarters were not immediately returned after business hours Wednesday evening.
