Review owner purchases Olympic Peninsula papers

Black Press Ltd, owner of the Bainbridge Island Review, increased its footprint in Western Washington this week with the purchases of the Peninsula Daily News, the Sequim Gazette and Forks Forum.

Horvitz Newspapers, owner of the Port Angeles Paper, and Black Press, of Victoria, B.C., made their announcement on Monday. Sound Publishing, which manages the Washington and Oregon holdings for Black Press, announced the purchase of the Sequim and Forks weeklies on Tuesday.

The Sound Publishing division of Black Press is the largest community newspaper group in the Pacific Northwest with 48 publications and a combined circulation of 732,700, including several Kitsap County newspapers: the Bainbridge Island Review, North Kitsap Herald, Central Kitsap Reporter, Port Orchard Independent, Kitsap Navy News and Bremerton Patriot.

Monday’s announcement was made personally to Peninsula Daily News employees by Peter Horvitz, president of Horvitz Newspapers, and Mark Warner of Black Press. The Port Angeles daily also has a small bureau in Port Townsend.

The Sequim and Forks papers were owned by Brown McClatchy Maloney and operated as Olympic View Publishing.

Sound’s corporate office is based in Poulsbo and it has a printing facility in Everett.

Privately held Black Press owns about 150 publications, including three daily newspapers, the Akron (Ohio) Beacon Journal, the (Honolulu) Star Advertiser and the Advocate (Red Deer, Alberta).

David Black, president of Black Press, said: “We have purchased other titles from Horvitz Newspapers in the past and look forward to adding the Peninsula Daily News and its related titles to our Sound group. As publishers of other titles in the area, this acquisition is a natural extension to our marketplace footprint. We are pleased to be doing business in Clallam and Jefferson counties.”

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