Honolulu will likely join most other U.S. cities with only one daily newspaper after the owners of the smaller Honolulu Star-Bulletin agreed to buy its longtime rival The Honolulu Advertiser.
The agreement for Oahu Publications Inc., which owns the Star-Bulletin and MidWeek, to acquire the Advertiser was announced yesterday in simultaneous meetings in both newsrooms.
"We're going to go from two papers to one, most likely," Star-Bulletin majority owner David Black said.
The sale must still be approved by the Department of Justice, which has asked Oahu Publications owner David Black to put the Star-Bulletin up for sale to see whether a buyer will come forward.
It is the same condition required of Advertiser owner Gannett Co. nine years ago when Gannett attempted to end the joint operating agreement to publish both papers and tried to shut down the Star-Bulletin.
At that time Black stepped forward to buy the Star-Bulletin for $10,000 and, in a separate deal, also purchased MidWeek and its presses.
Both daily papers have struggled since then with the decline in newspaper advertising and the recent recession.
Black said he believes it is unlikely that a buyer will purchase the Star-Bulletin and agree to keep publishing the paper.
"It's just too expensive," Black said. "We are a long way from breaking even."
If a qualified buyer is not found, then the papers will be merged after the sale is completed in the second quarter of 2010.
"It's a sad day when we can't keep two good papers running in a city of this size," Black said.
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Q&A with David Black
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