Greene, Fayette newspapers sold

LEVITTOWN (AP) – Family-owned Calkins Media is selling its six daily newspapers in the Philadelphia and Pittsburgh suburbs, as well as a weekly newspaper in Greene County.
The company announced Monday GateHouse Media is acquiring the Bucks County Courier Times, The Intelligencer, the Beaver County Times and the Ellwood City Ledger, all in Pennsylvania, and the Burlington County Times in New Jersey. A parent of GateHouse says the deal is worth $17.5 million.
Calkins said the Uniontown Herald-Standard, and the weekly Greene County Messenger in Waynesburg are being purchased by Wheeling, W.Va.-based Ogden Newspapers. Terms of that deal weren’t announced.
Ogden owns more than 40 daily newspapers and numerous weeklies and a magazine division. Robert Nutting, who owns the Pittsburgh Pirates and Seven Springs Resort is chief executive officer of Ogden.
Pittsford, N.Y.-based GateHouse is one of the nation’s largest media companies, with 130 dailies before the acquisition.
The deals are expected to close June 30.
Calkins board member Stan Ellis says the sole reason for the sale was “the economics in running a paper in today’s world.”