After more than 150 years of publishing, the Santa Barbara News-Press filed for bankruptcy in a Chapter 7 filing by its parent company Ampersand Publishing on Friday, court records showed.
The newspaper’s managing editor Dave Mason alerted staff that the news operation is shutting down and all jobs are being eliminated in an email, Noozhawk, the first to report on the shutdown, said.
Three months ago, the News-Press moved from its building on Santa Barbara’s De La Guerra Plaza to a space at its Goleta printing plant; last month, the paper stopped its print version and began to only offer news online, the Santa Barbara Independent said.
On its Twitter page, the News-Press says it was founded in 1855 and is “Southern California’s oldest newspaper.” The paper changed hands several time over the years. One of the most well-remembered owners was Thomas M. Storke; under his leadership the paper won a Pulitzer Prize in 1962. The New York Times acquired the paper in 1985 and famously sold it to local billionaire Wendy McCaw, the current owner, in 2000. McCaw is the ex-wife of cellphone pioneer Craig McCaw, the former chair of McCaw Cellular, which was sold to AT&T for billions. The McCaws are believed to have had one of the most expensive divorces in the U.S. ever.