L.A., O.C. Weekly’s Parent Firm for Sale : Newspapers: Owner of chain that also includes the Village Voice says he is selling because his children aren’t interested in the media business.

The owner of Stern Publishing, which includes L.A. Weekly, O.C. Weekly and other alternative publications, announced Wednesday that his empire of weekly newspapers is for sale.

The chain, begun with the purchase of the Village Voice in New York City from Rupert Murdoch 14 years ago, now has more than 500 employees and annual revenues of more than $80 million.

“I am extremely proud of this company, and confident of its future potential,” owner Leonard Stern said. “However, after consulting with my children and discussing their future career plans, I have decided to sell our publishing interests.”

David Schneiderman, president of the New York City-based company, said the decision to sell was entirely personal.

“Leonard talked to his children, and none of them were interested in going into the media business in the future,” he said. “That is what set the whole process going.”

The sale should signal how much the business of free weeklies has changed, said Abe Peck, a professor at Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism and an expert on the alternative press.

“They started out as freestyle newspapers that were alternatives to the traditional downtown newspapers, and in some ways they still are,” he said. “But they also find themselves in a position where life has been good on the bottom line.”

Stern Publishing, which includes papers in Seattle, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Cleveland and Long Island, N.Y., has a total circulation of over 890,000.

One potential suitor being mentioned is New Times Inc., which operates 10 alternative newspapers across the country, including New Times Los Angeles.

“It would be a ripe plum for someone to pick,” said Rick Barrs, editor of New Times Los Angeles. “It is an interesting situation, but it’s premature to be saying whether New Times will go after it or not. It is an appealing plum.”

Stern has engaged the investment banking firm of Veronis Suhler & Associates as its financial advisor.

Richard Karpel, executive director of the Assn. of Alternative Newsweeklies, which has 119 members with 7.4 million readers and revenues of $437 million, said that Stern’s enterprise would not come cheap.

Considering the marketability of L.A. Weekly and the Village Voice, he said, it could sell for as much as $200 million.

“If you look at the current landscape of our business, there aren’t many people out there who are potential suitors for Stern,” he said. “It is tough to run an alterative newspaper. Papers have to be close to the street, maintain some kind of idiosyncrasy. It is about writers and their voices. It is difficult for a larger company to do that.”