Stephens Media sells publications in Washington, Hawaii

Stephens Media LLC, the parent company of the Las Vegas Review-Journal, on Wednesday announced the sale of several newspapers in the Northwest and Hawaii to subsidiaries of the Black Press Group.

The Daily World, a three-day-a-week newspaper in Washington state, and associated weeklies Montesano Vidette, North Coast News and South Beach Bulletin were sold to Sound Publishing Inc. That transaction closed today.

The daily newspapers West Hawaii Today, of Kailua-Kona, the Hawaii Tribune-Herald, of Hilo, and Stephens’ interest in the Hawaii.com website, were sold to Oahu Publications Inc., another Black subsidiary, with an effective date of Dec. 1.

Financial terms were not disclosed.

“While we have appreciated the opportunity to serve these wonderful markets for a number of years, we concluded that they were no longer a strategic fit for Stephens Media,” CEO Ed Moss said in a statement.

After the Hawaii sales close, Stephens Media will publish 8 daily newspapers, about 60 weekly newspapers and more than 100 websites operating in seven states.

Black Press Ltd. of Victoria, Canada, publishes more than 160 newspapers and other publications in British Columbia, Alberta and Washington state, as well as the Honolulu (Hawaii) Star-Advertiser, Akron (Ohio) Beacon-Journal and San Francisco Examiner daily newspapers and SF (San Francisco) Weekly.

“These newspaper titles in Washington and Hawaii fit with Black Press’ geographic clustering strategy and are by far the leading local media in each of their respective communities,” said Black press CEO Rick O’Connor.

“We are pleased to be adding these assets to our business in both Hawaii and Washington,” said company founder and Chairman, David Black, “as both areas have been sources of growth for Black Press in the past few years.”