Some nine months after hiring an investment banker to explore “strategic options,” The Copley Press is selling the The San Diego Union-Tribune and its pioneering site SignOnSanDiego.com to private equity firm Platinum Equity. The price isn’t being disclosed; the deal, expected to close next quarter, will end an 81-year newspaper dynasty in San Diego.
It looks like this would be the first media company in Platinum’s portfolio; the Beverly Hills firm owns several communications equipment and services companies, including Covad Communications, and has acquired more than 100 companies since its 1997 founding.
Update: NYT: “… a person briefed on the deal called the price ‘very low,’ and said Platinum was the only serious bidder. … As the only daily in a fast-growing market, The Union-Tribune, which had weekday circulation of 270,000 last year, was once considered among the most valuable and sought-after papers in the country, and the sale is further illustration of the industry
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