ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Florida’s largest newspaper, The Tampa Bay Times, said Tuesday it has purchased its main competitor, the Tampa Tribune, ending a decades-long newspaper rivalry.
The acquisition means that the Tribune printed its final newspaper Tuesday, ending its 123-year-old run as a stand-alone paper. The Times will become the fifth-largest Sunday circulation newspaper in the nation.
Times chairman and CEO Paul Tash said he intends to create one financially secure, locally owned daily newspaper in the Tampa Bay region. Tash did not disclose the purchase price.
“The continued competition between the newspapers was threatening to both,” Tash said in a statement. “There are very few cities that are able to sustain more than one daily newspaper, and the Tampa Bay region is not among them.”
The Times bought the paper from Revolution Capital Group, which purchased the Tribune in 2012 for $9.5 million.
People around the Tampa Bay area were stunned when they heard the news. Until 2012, the Times was called the St. Petersburg Times and headquartered in St. Petersburg – although it also has a bureau in Tampa.
For years, the Tribune was considered the more conservative paper, while the Times was thought of as more liberal.
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