S.F. Examiner Has Several Possible Buyers, Owner Says
Several possible buyers surfaced Tuesday for the venerable San Francisco Examiner, reviving last-minute hopes that the threatened newspaper might continue its run as the city’s colorful afternoon daily.
Hearst Corp., the New York-based parent company of the Examiner, announced in a terse statement that it had received “several indications of interest” by its self-imposed Tuesday deadline for the sale of the newspaper. But Hearst declined to name the suitors.
“We are presently engaged in the process of reviewing and evaluating proposals, and have no official announcement at this time,” the company’s statement said. Debra Shriver, a Hearst spokeswoman in New York, declined further comment.
Hearst had vowed that it would close the flagship paper of its media empire if a buyer wasn’t found by Tuesday. The Examiner’s 203 staff members spent an anxious day waiting for news and were left hanging by a corporate announcement short on specifics.
The identity of at least one bidder emerged late Tuesday. An attorney for Clint Reilly, who ran unsuccessfully for San Francisco mayor last year, confirmed that the millionaire political consultant had made a bid.
Attorney Joseph Alioto said it was Hearst that suggested Reilly purchase the paper, but the lawyer declined to elaborate. Reilly, who pulled together media and financial advisors and examined the paper’s books before making the offer, is suing Hearst in federal court to block the sale or closure of the Examiner.
Sale of the 120-year-old paper, which launched the career of William Randolph Hearst and continued in recent years to produce some of the most irreverent journalism in America, had seemed impossible less than a month ago.
Hearst Corp. last year hammered out a $660-million deal to purchase the morning Chronicle and planned to close the Examiner, merging the staffs of the two newspapers, if no buyer was found.
But the company has been under intense pressure from the U.S. Justice Department, as well as state and local officials, not to shut down the Examiner, amid complaints that it was attempting to establish a newspaper monopoly in the city.
In January, Hearst sweetened its sales pitch, adding assets such as the Examiner’s trucks, presses and building to the original offer of the paper’s name and subscriber list.
“I think they’re doing the right thing by considering the offers,” said Marc Slavin, a spokesman for San Francisco City Atty. Louise Renne, who has been exploring possible legal action if the Examiner ceases publication. “Hearst knows there’s potential litigation staring them in the face.”
A spokesman for Times Mirror, the parent company of the Los Angeles Times, voiced interest in purchasing the Chronicle in June, two months before Hearst bought the newspaper. On Tuesday, Times Publisher Kathryn M. Downing declined to comment on whether the company has expressed interest in the Examiner.
For most of Tuesday, Hearst officials in New York kept a tight lid on news of any deal. Examiner Publisher Tim White complained about being stonewalled. “I’m bugging them, but I’m getting nothing,” he told a Bay Area TV station. “We’re very frustrated not knowing about our future.”
Examiner and Chronicle reporters said they had been living under a cloud of uncertainty for months and didn’t expect any resolution soon.
“We’re not turning over desks and lighting fires in the newsroom,” said Keay Davidson, the Examiner’s award-winning science writer. “We’ve been waiting for all this for so long. I just hope that somehow two newspapers survive in this town.”
The papers have shared business operations since 1965 under a joint operating agreement, but have separate newsroom staffs. The Examiner’s weekday circulation is about 107,000; the Chronicle’s is 457,000.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
