A once-thriving suburban Seattle newspaper has been sold to a Victoria publisher, in the region's latest cross-border corporate deal.
Black Press, owner dozens of papers in British Columbia and Washington, acquired the daily King County Journal, which has a modern printing plant and circulates east and south of Seattle. The paper once dominated the suburbs but has lost at least half of its readership since the early 1990s thanks to hazy focus on the market, cost-cutting and an unambitious Internet presence. Black Press' plans aren't clear, but surely the new owner won't continue the status quo. Deep cuts were announced when it bought a paper in Akron, Ohio.
The deal widens Black Press' reach thruough the region. Similar past regional deals include Interfor's acquisition last year of timberlands and mills in Washington and Oregon, Cray's purchase of B.C. computer firm OctigaBay in 2004 and Weyerhaeuser's takeover of MacMillan Bloedel in 1999.