Shaw acquiring Joliet Herald-News newspaper
Wrapports LLC, the parent company of the Chicago Sun-Times, plans to sell the Joliet Herald-News to Dixon-based newspaper publisher B.F. Shaw Printing Co.
The pending sale, first reported by Crain's Chicago Business, was confirmed Sunday by a source familiar with the negotiations.
The Herald-News, which has an average daily circulation of about 25,000, will become part of the Shaw chain, which also includes the Northwest Herald and Kane County Chronicle. Shaw also owns the nearby Morris Daily Herald. Company officials did not return a call for comment Sunday.
The move leaves Wrapports with five dailies and the Pioneer weeklies, as well as the Sun-Times.
The Joliet News was first published in 1877 and the Joliet Herald was launched in 1904, according to the Herald-News website. Col. Ira C. Copley bought The Herald in 1913 and added the printing equipment and circulation lists of The News to his company in 1915, when he merged the two papers.
Copley Press later sold its Fox Valley Press Inc. division to Hollinger International in 2000, a deal that included the Beacon News in Aurora, Courier News in Elgin, the Herald-News in Joliet and the News Sun in Waukegan. The former Hollinger is now Sun-Times Media.