The owner of Alaska’s largest newspaper, the Anchorage Daily News, is purchasing three other publications.
In a Monday announcement, the Binkley Company says it is buying two weeklies – the Alaska Journal of Commerce and Chugiak-Eagle River Star – and the monthly Alaskan Equipment Trader. All three are currently owned by Morris Communications.
The Binkley Company bought the former Alaska Dispatch News in bankruptcy court last summer. To cut costs, it outsourced printing and laid off some staff. It also returned the newspaper’s name to the Anchorage Daily News.
Daily News co-publisher Ryan Binkley said in the statement that the company is excited to add “new areas of coverage and new audiences” and plans to increase efficiency by adding the smaller publications to the larger group.
Binkley said Tuesday he was traveling and unavailable for comment.
The Binkley Company did not disclose the purchase price. The sale is expected to be finalized Friday.
Morris Communications announced in August it was selling three other Alaska newspapers: the Juneau Empire, the Peninsula Clarion and the Homer News.
Casey Grove is host of Alaska News Nightly, a general assignment reporter and an editor at Alaska Public Media. Reach him at cgrove@alaskapublic.org. Read more about Casey here.
