Harte-Hanks Deal to Sell 4 Papers Runs Into a Snag

The deal to sell Harte-Hanks Communications’ four San Diego newspaper operations to the company’s president apparently collapsed Tuesday.

Harte-Hanks Newspapers President Tucker Sutherland had agreed to buy the La Jolla Light, Coronado Journal, Star News Publications and Publishers Offset from Worrell Enterprises, a Charlottesville, Va.-based multimedia company.

But Worrell, which on Tuesday completed its purchase of 25 newspapers from Harte-Hanks, “made some changes in the option as they went along (which) made it difficult for me to complete the financing,” Sutherland said Tuesday.

“The original agreement was a simple option,” said Sutherland, adding that it “has gotten more complicated since then.”

Sutherland would not elaborate, and Worrell officials could not be reached.

Sutherland said “the deal is not dead” but acknowledged that it has hit some serious snags.

He said he expects to hear a final decision from Worrell officials sometime today.

The Worrell deal, reached last month, was part of San Antonio-based Harte-Hanks’ restructuring plan that included the sale of 56 smaller media operations.

Local Harte-Hanks properties, anticipating the sale to Sutherland, had already embarked on changes in the San Diego papers.

Recently, the Star-News closed its Clairemont, Linda Vista and beach area editions, and announced plans to begin a Pacific Beach Light to be operated by the La Jolla Light.

“We drew up our plans with Tucker’s blessings,” La Jolla Light Publisher Phyllis Pfeiffer said. “We have every reason to believe it will go ahead as planned.”

When the Sutherland deal was announced in November, Pfeiffer said the purchase would “mean very little, if any, change for our operation” because of Sutherland’s past connection to the operations.