The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner and Kodiak Daily Mirror newspapers are for sale, the News-Miner reported Friday.
The plan was announced by the newspapers' chief executive officer, William Dean Singleton, according to the News-Miner. The newspapers' employees were told of the sale Friday afternoon. The Kodiak Daily Mirror is owned by the Fairbanks paper.
In 1992, the family trusts of Singleton and Richard Scudder bought the News-Miner from C.W. Snedden's widow and others. Singleton retired in 2013, and Scudder died the year before.
"We have owned newspapers in Alaska for 23 years, and we grew to love Alaska just as we loved our newspapers," Singleton wrote in a letter to employees, according to the News-Miner. "Yet although we were lifelong newspapermen, none in our families chose that calling, even though we both wished they had.
"After discussions with my and (Scudder's) family members, the Singletons and Scudders have decided to seek new, more involved owners. … We have retained Cribb, Greene and Associates of Bozeman, Montana, to find the next owners," the letter continues.
If "the right buyer" isn't found, the family trusts will continue to own the newspapers, Singleton wrote.
Singleton and Scudder founded Denver-based MediaNews Group in 1983, which grew to become the second-largest newspaper company in the U.S. When Singleton retired as chairman of MediaNews in 2013, he retained ownership in the News-Miner through family trusts.