Billionaire media mogul Rupert Murdoch is set to purchase struggling news group The Brooklyn Paper, adding yet another New York City press outlet to his News Corporation empire.
The Brooklyn Paper will be another Big Apple-based institution under the News Corp. umbrella, joining The New York Post, the Wall Street Journal and the Courier-Life chain, which publishes 12 newspapers in Brooklyn. Murdoch's News Corp. is also the parent company of the Fox 5, Fox News and WWOR.
The Brooklyn Paper's longtime editor Gertz Kuntzman and publisher Celia Weintrob confirmed the purchase to The New York Observer Tuesday, saying that staffers at The Brooklyn Paper are "very excited" to be absorbed into the Murdoch money machine.
"They don't want the product to change. And they love the product. The product is fantastic," Kuntzman said.
The Brooklyn Paper has been published independently for 31 years. Rumors persisted last year that "Brooklyn's Real Newspaper" would be shutting its doors, but Kuntzman said then that there was no chance of "going out of business" -- or selling to a mogul like Murdoch.
"Has Rupert Murdoch even BEEN to Brooklyn?" Kuntzman fumed to Gothamist in 2008.
The price of the sale has not yet been publicly released. Weintrob said an official statement will be made Friday about the sale.
