William Dean Singleton

After struggling for years to survive in a depressed local economy, Oakland Tribune Publisher Robert Maynard announced Thursday that he has agreed to sell key assets of the 118-year-old daily to a suburban newspaper chain controlled by William Dean Singleton. Although the Tribune will continue to publish, all 630 of its employees will be laid off and forced to apply for 250 new positions with Singleton's Alameda Newspaper Group.

William Dean Singleton will acquire three California papers and one in Minnesota being sold by McClatchy Co. in a $1-billion deal that will dramatically expand his company's presence in the Bay Area and cement his position as the Golden State's biggest daily newspaper publisher. McClatchy said Wednesday that it would sell the San Jose Mercury News and Contra Costa Times to Singleton's privately held MediaNews Group Inc., and the Monterey County Herald and St. Paul, Minn.

Newspaper magnate William Dean Singleton is likely to be joined by two partners -- industry giant Gannett Inc. and privately held Stephens Media Group -- in his attempted purchase of three Northern California newspapers, people familiar with the pending acquisition said Thursday. Singleton's offer of up to $1 billion has put his MediaNews Group Inc. in prime position to buy the San Jose Mercury News, Contra Costa Times, Monterey County Herald and St. Paul (Minn.) Pioneer Press from McClatchy Co.

William Dean Singleton, chief executive of MediaNews Group, the company that owns the Houston Post, has become the newspaper's publisher. Donald F. Hunt, the former publisher, has been named president of MediaNews International, a new company owned by Singleton and MediaNews Chairman Richard Scudder, which was formed for international acquisitions. Singleton and Scudder own MediaNews Group, parent company of the Post, the Denver Post and 47 other newspapers in nine states.

William Dean Singleton started his career as a part-time reporter at age 15 in his hometown of Graham, Tex. His first newspaper acquisition occurred shortly after his graduation from the University of Texas, when he bought four small newspapers in West Texas. As a young man he applied for a job at the Dallas Times Herald and was turned down, Singleton says. He bought the Times Herald in 1986 for $110 million from Los Angeles-based Times Mirror Co.

The San Gabriel Valley Daily Tribune and the Pasadena Star-News, the two major suburban daily newspapers in the San Gabriel Valley, announced Wednesday an agreement to combine key parts of their business operations under a single management. Under the agreement, a new company named the San Gabriel Valley Newspaper Management Co.

A subsidiary of the Toronto-based Thomson Newspaper Group has purchased the majority interest in the 43,000-circulation Pasadena Star-News, a daily newspaper covering the western San Gabriel Valley. The Thomson-owned San Gabriel Valley Tribune Inc. announced that it acquired the controlling interest by purchasing Star-News common stock previously owned by Texas media mogul William Dean Singleton. Singleton retains a minority interest, according to F.

Newspaper magnate William Dean Singleton said Thursday he would acquire the San Bernardino Sun as part of a rapid expansion of his reach in the Southern California marketplace. Gannett Co., the Sun's owner, said it would add the 80,000-circulation daily to a partnership already formed by Donrey Media Group and Garden State Newspapers, affiliates of Singleton's privately held MediaNews Group.

When Denver press baron William Dean Singleton bought the Long Beach Press-Telegram just before Christmas in 1997, he gave everyone in the newsroom 15 minutes to re-interview for their jobs. Feature writer Debbie Arrington, who had followed her father and grandmother onto the newspaper's payroll and never planned to work anywhere else, was stunned. "Your job is on the line, and you had to make an instant impression that you were worth keeping," Arrington recalled.

Newspaper magnate William Dean Singleton said Thursday he would acquire the San Bernardino Sun as part of a rapid expansion of his reach in the Southern California marketplace. Gannett Co., the Sun's owner, said it would add the 80,000-circulation daily to a partnership already formed by Donrey Media Group and Garden State Newspapers, affiliates of Singleton's privately held MediaNews Group.

William Dean Singleton dramatically expanded his grip on the newspaper industry in Southern California with the announcement Thursday that his MediaNews Group will buy the Los Angeles Daily News from Jack Kent Cooke's estate for an undisclosed price. Singleton, 46, expects to take ownership of the Daily News in January, and with his pending purchase of the Long Beach Press-Telegram from Knight-Ridder Inc.

The Long Beach Press-Telegram, one of Southern California's oldest newspapers, is being sold to media magnate William Dean Singleton for an undisclosed price, it was announced Thursday. The deal will give Singleton his fourth daily newspaper in Los Angeles County, making him the county's second-largest publisher in terms of circulation and a more formidable rival to the county's largest newspaper, the Los Angeles Times.

Toronto-based Thomson Corp. said Friday that it is selling the San Gabriel Valley Tribune, the Pasadena Star-News and a sister daily paper in Whittier to Denver media mogul William Dean Singleton--six years after Singleton sold the Star-News to Thomson. The 57,500-circulation Tribune, based in West Covina, the 42,500-circulation Star-News and the 19,000-circulation Whittier Daily News are to be sold to Singleton's Denver-based MediaNews Group, which also owns the Denver Post.

The way William Dean Singleton saw it, the Oakland Tribune had two choices: Sell its key assets to his Alameda Newspaper Group or fold. "The Oakland Tribune was ready to fail, and it was in our market," Singleton said in an interview Friday at the Hayward Daily Review, one of his group's four other newspapers in Alameda County, east across the bay from San Francisco. "It made strategic sense to do this deal. We weren't beating the door down to do it. . . .

Toronto-based Thomson Corp. said Friday that it is selling the San Gabriel Valley Tribune, the Pasadena Star-News and a sister daily paper in Whittier to Denver media mogul William Dean Singleton--six years after Singleton sold the Star-News to Thomson. The 57,500-circulation Tribune, based in West Covina, the 42,500-circulation Star-News and the 19,000-circulation Whittier Daily News are to be sold to Singleton's Denver-based MediaNews Group, which also owns the Denver Post.

After struggling for years to survive in a depressed local economy, Oakland Tribune Publisher Robert Maynard announced Thursday that he has agreed to sell key assets of the 118-year-old daily to a suburban newspaper chain controlled by William Dean Singleton. Although the Tribune will continue to publish, all 630 of its employees will be laid off and forced to apply for 250 new positions with Singleton's Alameda Newspaper Group.