Attorney General Mark Bennett will review the Advertiser's sale to the publisher of its cross-town rival, but Bennett says the newspaper industry has changed in the decade since one of the papers was last threatened with closure. "The economics of the newspaper business and the definition of relevant markets is just not the same as it was 10 years ago,'' Bennett said in a UPI story today. "The antitrust laws don't require someone to operate a business that can't make money."Gannett announced Thursday that it had reached a deal to sell the Advertiser for an undisclosed sum to Oahu Publications. Oahu plans to merge the two papers if, as expected, no investor steps forward to buy the Star-Bulletin. The deal also is subject to U.S. Justice Department approval. The sale would be completed in the second quarter.
[Image: today's Advertiser, Newseum]
The Hawaii AG's comments left me wondering why they haven't merged the Detroit papers yet? Weren't those papers losing a lot of money? It sounds like if the deal in Hawaii goes through, then perhaps Detroit might be ripe for yet another shakeup.
ReplyDelete