Update: Irvings eye the Blethen papers
A Seattle-based website is reporting that Brunswick News, a New Brunswick newspaper company owned by a member of the billionaire Irving family, is considering a purchase of Blethen Maine Newspapers, parent of the Portland Press Herald.
Officials from Brunswick News reportedly took two tours of the Portland Press Herald's newsroom last week, Crosscut.com reported. Brunswick News is owned by J.K. Irving, whose holdings in New Brunswick and Maine include oil, forest products, food products, trucking, shipbuilding and media outlets, including all three of New Brunswick's English-language dailies, most of its French-language weeklies and several radio stations, according to Crosscut. The Irving family owns 300 businesses in New Brunswick and Maine. The Seattle Times Co., which owns Blethen Maine Newspapers, would not comment on prospective buyers of the Maine newspapers.
The Seattle Times Co. has been trying since March to sell its Maine assets including the Morning Sentinel in Waterville and the Kennebec Journal in Augusta. Two weeks ago, an investor group including former Secretary of Defense and former Maine Sen. William Cohen, ended exclusive talks with Blethen without a sales agreement. The negotiations reportedly broke down because the investment group couldn't line up financing quickly enough to satisfy Blethen, which is hemorrhaging money, according to Crosscut. Financing shouldn't be a problem for the Irvings -- Forbes estimates the family and its businesses are worth $5.8 billion.
Meanwhile, the Press Herald is reporting Blethen and the Portland Newspaper Guild have agreed to meet with an arbitrator as soon as possible to resolve a lawsuit. A federal judge suggested the parties arbitrate outside of court to resolve a fight over whether the union must stay intact under new ownership of the paper.
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