Chronicle Publishing Company - Demise

Demise

With the growing consolidation of print and broadcast media in the 1990s, the heirs of the de Young family decided to sell the aspects of Chronicle Publishing in 1999 when the consolidation of media in the United States was at its peak. Over the latter half of 1999 into 2000, the units of the company were sold separately to different entities:

• San Francisco Chronicle: Hearst Corporation (longtime owners the Examiner which was divested upon the purchase of the Chronicle amid protests that San Francisco would be left with one newspaper.)
• Worcester Telegram & Gazette: New York Times Company (owners of the nearby Boston Globe)
• The Pantagraph (Bloomington): Lee Enterprises
• KRON-TV: Young Broadcasting (which paid a record $820 million for the station, then disaffiliated it from NBC in the wake of a conflict with the network)
  • Partner network BayTV went to Young with the sale and was folded in August 2001.
• WOWT and KAKE: LIN TV, which swapped the stations to Benedek Broadcasting for cash and that company's WWLP in Springfield, Massachusetts)
• Chronicle Books: Purchased by a consortium of investors and employees
• MBI Publishing: Purchased by New York City investment firm Flagship Partners, Inc.

With the exception of the Pantagraph and the book imprints, all of the former Chronicle assets have met some degree of criticism, misfortune, or both. Concerns about the Telegram & Gazette being pared down into a "(Boston) Globe West" arose in Worcester while Hearst's purchase of the Chronicle led to the Examiner having to reinvent itself under its new local ownership as it struggled. The television properties became a strain on their new owners as the Chronicle/LIN/Benedek deal pushed Benedek Broadcasting into bankruptcy with most of the company (including the former Chronicle) stations being purchased in 2002 by Gray Television. Young Broadcasting has struggled since purchasing KRON-TV, having sold four stations and pare down operations at KRON to keep afloat due to the heavy debt incurred by the massive purchase of the station. KRON itself also suffered due to the loss of its NBC affiliation to KNTV, later followed by its decision to affiliate with low-rated My Network TV.