US: News Corp. buys two NY newspaper groups

Posted by Rory Satran on September 29, 2006 at 12:05 PM

News Corporation has expanded into New York’s outer boroughs with its recent purchase of two newspaper groups. The owners of the New York Post are excited to expand their empire into Brooklyn and Queens.

A source said that News Corp. paid $16m for the two groups, TimesLedger and Courier-Life. is composed of 16 Queens newspapers that amount to a total of 50,000 in circulation. TimesLedgerCourier-Life includes 11 Brooklyn newspapers with a circulation of 90,000.

News Corp.’s move is a calculated strategy to compete with The Daily News, a Post competitor that reaches a largely minority readership. The Post’s circulation is currently 673,000 compared to The Daily News’s 708,000.

Senior VP of News Corp. Les Goodstein said the company has been excited to expand coverage to Brooklyn and Queens, as it already has a good grip on Manhattan.

Source:NYT