How’s this for a jaw-dropper? The Bay Guardian is reportedly in play and could be sold to the owners of the San Francisco Examiner. (Or maybe not. See below.) That’s according to the East Bay Express’s Rachel Swan and Robert Gammon, who broke the news this afternoon and who quote Guardian executive editor Tim Redmond as saying he’s “very optimistic” the deal will happen. Few details are known and the Express says the folks at the Examiner have not yet responded to inquiries.Add: The Examiner is owned by Canadian publisher Black Press Group, whose majority owner is David Holmes Black. It has shed staff since being acquired last year from Denver billionaire Philip Anschutz. After editor Deirdre Hussey’s departure in February, the new owners named Stephen Buel editor in chief. He’s the former editor of East Bay Express.
[Update] Examiner president and CEO Todd Vogt tells SF Weekly's Joe Eskenazi that no deal is in place and downplayed the idea that there might be one anytime soon. He says he's met Bay Guardian founding editor Bruce Brugmann twice in his life, including the time he learned the alt-weekly was for sale. "For the record, we believe in newspapers. If anything is for sale, we'd be bidders on it. If Bruce and [his wife] Jean are gonna sell, we'd be interested."
