In a newspaper industry that some analysts see as in decline and under assault from the Internet, William Dean Singleton has used a geographic clustering strategy and partnerships with other companies to grow bigger while others falter.
As a result, Singleton’s Denver-based ap Inc. has been able to cut costs by allowing multiple papers to share printing, sales and other business expenses.
“He’s smart,” said John Morton, president of industry consultancy Morton Research in Silver Spring, Md. “He sees opportunities, and he seizes them.”
Singleton on Wednesday bought four daily newspapers from the McClatchy Co. in a $1 billion deal that also involved New York-based Hearst Corp., which will take an undisclosed stake in MediaNews assets.
The deal, which still requires regulatory approval, would put MediaNews among the top four U.S. newspaper publishers by daily circulation, up from No. 7. His roster of daily papers, which includes The Denver Post, Detroit News and Salt Lake Tribune, will expand to 53 nationwide.
The son of an oil-field worker, Singleton began his newspaper career as a 15-year-old part- time reporter in his hometown of Graham, Texas. By age 21, he had purchased his first newspaper.
When the Dallas Times Herald and the Houston Post shut down, Singleton won a reputation as a relentless cost-cutter. The company’s flagship publication, The Denver Post, announced last week it has plans to reduce its newsroom staff by 25 workers – about 8 percent.
“Obviously, you read things about him. It’s a mixed bag,” said Thom Fladung, editor of the St. Paul Pioneer Press, one of the four papers being acquired by MediaNews.
Morton said that reputation is overstated.
“People used to complain that he laid off a lot of people when he purchased a paper,” Morton said. “But a lot of papers were family-run operations with bloated staffs.”
