IE Business Daily Business news for the Inland Empire.
Digital First Media, owner and operator of the Los Angeles News Group, will be the next owner of the Press-Enterprise and Orange County Register.
The New York-based company was awarded both newspapers Monday by a U.S. bankruptcy judge, who ruled that a competing bid by the Tribune Publishing in Los Angeles was fraught with possible antitrust problems, according to multiple reports.
Tribune Publishing owns the Los Angeles Times.
Digital First Media owns 65 daily and Sunday newspapers, and an estimated 265 websites. Its holdings include the Los Angeles Daily News, the Long Beach Press-Telegram the San Bernardino Sun and Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, as well as five other Southern California newspapers.
It will pay $51.2 million for the Press-Enterprise and Orange County Register to Freedom Communications, which filed for bankruptcy protection in November, according to reports.
The deal is expected to close March 31.
The transaction is another instance of traditional print media being consolidated by the onslaught of digital media and the Internet, said Jay Prag, professor of economics and finance at the Drucker School of Management at Claremont Graduate University.
“Print media is managing to survive, but its traditional ad revenue is obviously going away,” Prag said. “What I’m afraid of here is that [Digital First Media] might decide to close one or two papers after this sale plays out.”
