The Santa Barbara News-Press’ printing equipment went to auction Thursday for the defunct newspaper’s bankruptcy proceedings, and much of it remained unsold.
There were no takers for the press itself or the many rolls of unused newsprint left over when the newspaper abruptly stopped publication in July 2023.
The company also stopped printing other publications using its facilities, including the Daily Nexus at UC Santa Barbara.
Bankruptcy trustee Jerry Namba and his attorneys have already sold the digital assets and physical archives of the News-Press.
When owner Wendy McCaw filed for bankruptcy last year, she listed several million dollars owed to creditors, including vendors and former employees, and few assets.
Nine years earlier, she had transferred ownership of the two buildings – the downtown newsroom and Goleta printing plant – to separate LLCs she controls, and argues they should not be considered assets in the newspaper’s bankruptcy.
That position is being contested in the bankruptcy trustee.
A local group headed by Ben Romo purchased the website, trademark and social media accounts.
The Santa Barbara Historical Museum purchased the archives: the photo collection, clippings, microfilm and bound newspapers stored at the historic newsroom building at 715 Anacapa St. Staff have removed most of the materials by now – about 1,000 banker boxes worth, museum executive director Dacia Harwood said.
Thursday’s auction was conducted online by CA Global Partners for items at the News-Press printing plant, at 725 S. Kellogg in Goleta.
Some of the forklifts, tools, computers, heavy-duty storage containers and ladders were sold during the auction.
The auction also sold artworks by Edward Borein and a bust of former newspaper owner Robert McLean.
His name is spelled Robert McClean on the plaque, which includes this quote: “The publication of the news, the stark news, if you will, news without prejudice or bias, without intent to influence, without regard to whether the news is good or bad, favorable or unfavorable, is essential to the successful operation of a democracy.”
It’s the buyers’ responsibility to remove everything from the building, and arrange their own shipping, according to the auction site. “All items are sold AS-IS, WHERE-IS” and all sales are final.
The Printing Press
The newspaper printing press itself – a 1992 Goss 6010 5 Tower Metrocolor Offset Printing Press – was listed as Lot #118 with a starting bid of $5,000. It went unsold.
The press was purchased new and the facility was “state of the art” at the time, remembers Noozhawk Editor in Chief Tom Bolton.
He was an editor at the News-Press in the early 1990s when the previous owner, The New York Times Company, built the printing facility. The New York Times Co. purchased the newspaper in 1985 and sold it to McCaw in 2000.
The News-Press printing press is one of two in Santa Barbara County. Most publications outsource their printing.
In neighboring San Luis Obispo County, The Tribune stopped printing its own newspaper in 2015 and sold the press equipment. It’s now printed by the Santa Maria Times.
Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo students used to print the journalism department’s newspaper on campus, but decided to remove the press in 2018 and outsource the less-frequent printing.
Siebold, a liquidation company, removed the press for free and recycled the parts for other presses, Mustang News reported at the time.