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 TheSeattle Times Building at 1000 Denny Way, September 2022 | |
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Newspapers |
| Founded | 1896 |
| Headquarters | 1000 Denny Way,Seattle,Washington, U.S. |
Key people |
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| Products | The Seattle Times and several other newspapers inWashington |
| Owner |
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| Website | company |
The Seattle Times Company is a privately ownedpublisher ofdaily andweekly newspapers in theU.S. state ofWashington. Founded inSeattle, Washington in 1896, the company is in its fourth generation of control by the Blethen family as of 2022.[1]
Alden J. Blethen founded the company in 1896, and kept ownership of it in his family, until his son sold a minority stake of 49.5% the company toKnight Ridder.McClatchy now owns the share.[2][3]Frank A. Blethen, Alden's great-grandson,[4] is thechief executive officer andchairman of the company.[5]
The company owns Washington's highest-circulation daily newspaper,The Seattle Times. Elsewhere in Washington, the company owns theYakima Herald-Republic andWalla Walla Union-Bulletin.[6]
Maine-native schoolteacher and attorneyAlden J. Blethen bought theSeattle Press-Times in 1896, renaming it theSeattle Daily Times and doubling its circulation to 7,000 six months later. When he died in 1915, theTimes' circulation was 70,000.[7]
The two smaller papers were added later. TheWalla Walla Union-Bulletin was purchased in 1971, and theYakima Herald-Republic in 1991.
The Times Company acquiredTheIssaquah Press in 1995 fromPacific Publishing Company.[8] The newspaper also acquired theSammamish Review,SnoValley Star, andNewcastle News later in 1995.[9]
The Issaquah Press Group and its newspapers ceased publication in February 2017.[10] The news websitetheeastside.news closed along with the papers.[11] 12 staff werelaid off.[12]
Founded in 1900,The Issaquah Press was thenewspaper of record forIssaquah, Washington. It reached 20,000 homes in Issaquah every week.[13]
A monthly newspaper servingNewcastle, Washington, that debuted five years after the city was incorporated. TheNewcastle News was mailed free to 5,000 homes in Newcastle.[14]
Founded as a monthly in 1992, theSammamish Review became a weekly in 2007 and was delivered free to 15,000 homes inSammamish, Washington, every Wednesday.[15]
The SnoValley Star's first issue was published March 6, 2008. The free-distribution weekly newspaper reached 12,400 homes and businesses in North Bend andSnoqualmie, Washington.[16]
In addition to various websites associated with its newspaper properties, The Seattle Times Company also owns Rotary Offset Press, a printing company inKent, Washington.
For about a decade, from 1998 to mid-2009, The Seattle Times Company owned three daily newspapers and three weeklies in the state ofMaine, as part of a subsidiary called Blethen Maine Newspapers. It sold these properties to private investors in 2009, who formedMaineToday Media.
Blethen Maine Newspapers was built in one acquisition, Seattle Times' purchase of all the newspapers formerly published byGuy Gannett Communications (not related to the largerGannett chain). Guy Gannett managers said they sold to The Seattle Times Company because of shared values—both companies were fourth-generation family-owned news organizations.
"Of all the companies in the newspaper business, The Seattle Times is one most like our company in the sense of independence, of family ownership, and commitment to the community," said Guy Gannett spokesman Tim O'Meara.[17]
Blethen Maine Newspapers' properties included the state's largest daily, thePortland Press Herald andMaine Sunday Telegram; theKennebec Journal and theMorning Sentinel; along with their related weeklies. This purchase was estimated to have cost about $213 million.[18]
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