Seattle Times Co. puts Maine newspapers up for sale
By Alexandra Zeumer, Tuesday 18 March 2008 at 21:20 :: Media Ownership :: #1414 :: rss
The Seattle Times Co. placed its Maine newspapers for sale Monday in an effort to save money and protect its flagship newspaper from an industry-wide advertising revenue slump, The Seattle Times reported Tuesday.
However, industry experts say they don't think the company will make nearly the same amount it paid 10 years ago for the weekly and three dailies.
Dailies include the Portland Press Herald and Kennebec Journal in Augusta, Maine, and the Morning Sentinel in Waterville. The Costal Journal in Bath is the only weekly. The dailies' combined circulation is 101,000 on weekdays and 137,000 on Sundays, The Times reported.
“This is a terrible time to be selling newspapers. They (The Times Co.) must really need the money,” John Morton, a newspaper analyst in Silver Spring, Maryland, told The Times.
The sale of the papers will ultimately give the company more room to focus on its papers in Washington, such as the Yakima Herald-Republic and the Walla Walla Union-Bulletin, said Jill Mackie, vice president of The Times Co., according to The Times.
As stated by Jill Mackie, Times Vice President, the sale of the Maine papers would ultimately give the company a chance to concentrate on its Washington papers, including the Yakima Herald-Republic and Walla Walla Union-Bulletin. “It doesn’t make sense to continue to starve both. We’re a relatively small company, and there just are not enormous reserves of resources out there,” she said.
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