• by Ray Schultz , March 24, 2024

Carpenter Media Group has acquired Black Press Media, a Canadian company that owns more than 150 newspapers and media operations, including the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, in a stock transaction.

Ownership will be shared by Carpenter Media Group and Canadian investors Canso and Deans Knight. 

Canso and Deans Knight were creditors of Black Press Media, which has been restructured since January under Canada’s Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act.

As per Canadian law, Black Post Media will remain under Canadian majority ownership. The titles will be run by Carpenter Media Group. 

Black Post Media, which also owns properties in Western Canada and Washington, serves 4.5 million print readers and 13 million digital readers per day. 

Dennis Francis, president and publisher of Oahu Publications Inc., has been named senior vice president for Carpenter Media Group and will continue in his role at Oahu Publications. 

Employees at the Star-Advertiser, the sixth largest U.S. daily, are worried about layoffs. 

“We just don’t know enough yet to know if that’s going to be an issue, we’ve been told that there aren’t any plans for layoffs moving forward,” says Kevin Knodell, unit chair of the paper’s union. “I say that we’re cautiously optimistic about the sale, but candidly, morale is low and it’s been kind of low for a while.”

Carpenter Media Group operates in Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, Georgia, North Carolina, Virginia and Kentucky.