Publisher Buys Chicago Sun-Times for $145 Million

Publisher Rupert Murdoch will sell the Chicago Sun-Times for $145 million to a group of investors led by Sun-Times Publisher Robert Page, marking the second time the newspaper has changed hands in less than three years, officials said today.

Murdoch, chief executive officer of News America Holdings Inc., also owns WFLD-TV in Chicago and was forced to sell the paper under Federal Communication Commission rules banning cross ownership of television stations and newspapers in the same city.

Page will continue to serve as president, publisher and chief executive officer of the Sun-Times, the nation’s 11th-largest newspaper. Leonard Shaykin, managing director of the New York investment firm Adler & Shaykin, will be chairman of the new company.

Murdoch’s News America bought the Sun-Times, its wire syndicate and the seven-story Sun-Times Building from Field Enterprises Inc. for $100 million in 1984.

Murdoch announced on May 9, 1985, that he would sell the newspaper to comply with FCC regulations in his $2-billion purchase of several television stations. The FCC had granted Murdoch a waiver until March, 1988, to sell the paper.

The purchase of the Sun-Times includes the newspaper and its assets. The sale is expected to be finalized by July 2, officials said.

Among the Australian-born Murdoch’s newspaper holdings are the Times of London, the New York Post and the Boston Herald. He owns six American and two Australian television stations and 20th Century Fox.

Page, whose career includes 20 years with United Press International, has been associated with Murdoch since 1981. He assumed direction of the Boston Herald in 1982 after Murdoch rescued it from near collapse. On Jan. 9, 1984, Page took over as president and publisher of Murdoch’s newly purchased Chicago Sun-Times.