Hearst to Buy San Antonio Express-News

Hearst Corp., publisher of the San Antonio Light, said Tuesday that it has agreed to buy the rival Express-News for $185 million from Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. and will close the Light if it can’t sell the paper.

A shutdown of the Light, which has lost $60 million since 1987, would end a fierce newspaper war, defined for years by blaring headlines, lottery-type games and shenanigans among employees.

Hearst agreed to retain all 1,000 of the Express-News’ employees.

If Hearst can’t find a buyer for the Light, about 600 Light employees would receive severance benefits.

“Despite vigorous efforts to reverse the trends, Hearst has concluded that the Light’s losses are irreversible, particularly in view of the fact that the number of cities which can support two competing daily newspapers continues to shrink,” Hearst said in a statement.

Hearst Corp. President and Chief Executive Frank A. Bennack announced the agreement in separate meetings with employees of both newspapers Tuesday morning.

The purchase is subject to federal antitrust review.

Murdoch, chairman and chief executive of News Corp., said the retention of all Express-News employees was essential to the deal.

“They waged a long and victorious contest in the San Antonio market and no agreement would have been possible without a guarantee that they would all be offered continued employment,” Murdoch said in a statement.

Bennack and George Irish, publisher of the Light, did not immediately return telephone calls from Associated Press.

At the Light, telephones rang constantly in a vacant newsroom Tuesday as workers met on another floor to hear the news. Light employees said they were given a 60-day plant closing notice.