Zoe Corneli/The Bay Citizen

The San Francisco Examiner on July 9, 2010

Clarity Media Group, the parent company of the San Francisco Examiner, has agreed to sell the paper to a consortium led by Black Press, a Canadian publisher.

The deal is expected to close Nov. 30.

The sale comes seven years after Clarity, the media company owned by Denver businessman Philip Anschutz, purchased the Examiner from the Fang family. Clarity still publishes the Washington Examiner and the Weekly Standard, two publications in the nation's capital. In addition, the company bought the Oklahoman, of Oklahoma City, in September.

"As Clarity Media Group focused increasing resources on the Washington D.C. market," CEO Ryan McKibben said in a statement, "it became clear that owning a single newspaper asset on the West Coast was no longer consistent with our evolving business plan. Therefore, when the Black Press organization approached us about a sale, we determined they were the right fit for Examiner and this was the right time to initiate the transaction."

David Black, the president of Black Press, said he was "delighted" by the transaction.

"Readership is second to none in San Francisco and on the Peninsula," said Black, who is not related to Conrad Black, the UK media mogul. Black's company publishes 170 newspapers across North America, predominantly in western Canada. In the United States, its properties include the Honolulu Star-Advertiser and the Akron Beacon Journal.

One of San Francisco's most storied institutions, the Examiner has been in flux in recent years as it endured a series of ownership changes and the decline of the newspaper market more generally.

The paper was founded in 1865 and came under William Randolph Hearst's control 22 years later. When the Hearst Corp. bought the San Francisco Chronicle in 2000, the transaction sparked a high-profile antitrust battle and resulted in the Examiner's sale to San Francisco's politically connected Fang family.

The Fangs sold the paper to Anschutz in 2004. For the next seven years, the Examiner's editorial page often offered a conservative voice in a city known for its liberal politics.

Correction: A previous version of this post incorrectly stated that the Clarity Media Group had purchased the San Francisco Examiner from the Hearst Corp. It purchased the paper from the Fang family.