N.Y. Post Publisher to Resign, Form Partnership

New York Post Publisher Peter Price announced Monday that he was resigning in order to form a partnership with the Los Angeles-based unit of an international communications company.

Price will team up with Univisa, the U.S. subsidiary of Televisa, which has been described as the world’s largest producer of Spanish-language television and radio programming. Univisa’s principals include John A. Gavin, former U.S. ambassador to Mexico.

The resignation came as a surprise--described by one veteran Post columnist as “a shockola”--to many members of the tabloid’s staff, who had worked under Price for little more than a year.

Price came to the Post as publisher with the newspaper’s new owner, real estate developer Peter Kalikow, in March, 1988, when Kalikow purchased the paper from Rupert Murdoch for $37.6 million.

Kalikow had no publishing experience and was reported to have leaned heavily on Price, a veteran journalist and magazine publisher, in his efforts to restructure the 188-year-old Post and make it a money-making operation. Price brought in Jane Amsterdam, a prominent magazine journalist, as the paper’s new editor.

Kalikow accepted Price’s resignation with regret, praised him for “a fantastic job” in increasing the Post’s circulation and advertising. He said he will personally assume Price’s duties.

Price said in his resignation statement that he is leaving the Post “with regret and respect, but the chance to start this new partnership with Univisa is extraordinary. I have been in the communications business for most of my professional life. I love the business.

“This opportunity will allow me as a partner in the enterprise to explore a range of new media ventures.”

Price came to the financially troubled Post after a career with Time Inc., where he was an assistant publisher of Life, circulation manager of Sports Illustrated and director of corporate development for Time Inc. He left Time in 1970 to start Media Networks, which provided advertising service to print and TV media.

It was sold in 1977 and Price and his wife, Judy, founded Avenue, a localized upscale New York magazine that has won a national readership and boasts some of the top advertisers in the country, especially manufacturers of luxury merchandise.

When Kalikow hired Price, the industry believed it was for his expertise in obtaining class advertising, something the afternoon Post has not enjoyed since it was bought by Murdoch in 1976. Under Murdoch’s ownership, the Post’s share of the city’s newspaper advertising market slipped to 10%.

Price also oversaw the development of a Sunday edition of the paper at a cost of $25 million, first published March 5, as part of the effort to increase advertising revenue.