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The Seattle Times Co. is looking for a buyer for Blethen Maine Newspapers, which includes Maine’s largest newspaper, the Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram.
After ten years of ownership, The Seattle Times Co. is hunkering down to focus attention on the properties it owns in Washington state. Though Blethen Maine Newspapers has been profitable nearly the entire decade since its purchase, the profits have been declining steadily.
The news came on the heels of an announcement Sunday about Draconian cuts to the Portland Press Herald’s print content as well as job cuts.
The sale price for the papers will not likely be robust - Blethen reportedly paid about $200 million for the papers in 1998 and would be fortunate to get half of that according to an analyst quoted in the Portland Press Herald.
The Seattle Times Co. has weathered some tough times in recent years including an employee strike, massive job cuts at Seattle-based Boeing and a battle with Hearst Co. The company sold off $30 million in downtown Seattle real estate but is still struggling with debt.
Blethen Maine Newspapers has 509 full-time employees and 189 part-timers. It is Maine’s largest newspaper group. In addition to the Portland newspapers, Blethen Maine owns the Kennebec Journal in Augusta; the Morning Sentinel in Waterville; the Coastal Journal, a free weekly in Bath; The Maine Switch, a free weekly in Portland; and MaineToday.com, the company’s online site.
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