Victoria-based Black Press Ltd. has been acquiring U.S. newspapers despite having a comparatively high debt load.
The company announced February 6 that its Sound Publishing subsidiary bought the Everett Herald for an undisclosed amount from the Washington Post Co.
That deal came a month after Sound Publishing purchased the Seattle Weekly for an undisclosed amount from Village Voice Holdings LLC.
Black Press owner David Black did not respond to a Business in Vancouver interview request by press time.
He told BIV last year, however, that prices for newspaper assets, particularly in the U.S., have reduced to the point that it made sense to buy them.
“There entirely could be [more acquisitions,]” Black told BIV. “There’s nothing on the immediate horizon however we remain very bullish on the community newspaper sector.”
Those comments came, however, after Standard and Poors Ratings Services’ (S&P) June downgrade of its outlook for Black Press to negative from stable.
S&P reported last June that Black Press had “less than adequate liquidity” and faces “ongoing headwinds” with revenue and profitability given tough industry fundamentals.
Black Press owns 75 newspapers in B.C., nine newspapers in Alberta, the Honolulu Star Advertiser, the Akron Beacon Journal and 17 printing plants.
He separately owns shares in the San Francisco Newspaper Co., which bought the San Francisco Examiner in November 2011.
