The Empire Builder

He was just 27 when he bought the Staten Island Advance for $98,000 in 1922. Since then, short (5 ft. 3 in.), stocky Samuel Irving Newhouse, 63, the son of a Russian immigrant, has strung together an empire of 13 newspapers. Among them: the Newark Star-Ledger, St. Louis Globe-Democrat, Portland Oregonian, Birmingham News, Syracuse Herald-Journal and Post-Standard. The prosperous Newhouse chain is surpassed in heft and wealth only by Scripps-Howard (21 papers) and Hearst (17).

What drives Sam Newhouse is the urge to expand, and last week word leaked out that he was chasing one of the brightest properties in the nation: the Baltimore Sunpapers, which thrive on civic crusades and solid, sober news coverage (six foreign correspondents, a nine-man Washington bureau). Newhouse has offered to buy between 51% and 70% of the stock of A. S. Abell Co., which owns the three papers (morning circ. 196,725; evening circ. 214,938; Sunday circ. 317,648), plus the Sun's TV station WMAR. Estimated price for 51% control: $20 million. So eager is Publisher Newhouse to get the prestigious Sunpapers that he might be willing to plunk down more than $40 million for the whole outfit.

To date, most members of the tight-knit Baltimore families that own the Sun-papers have refused to listen to the clink of Newhouse coin. But a minority still hope to round up the shares needed to meet Newhouse's bid. If Newhouse does buy the Sunpapers, the deal will be by far the largest in U.S. newspaper history, topping the $18,642,000 he paid in 1955 for the Birmingham News and its affiliated properties, including radio and TV stations (TIME, Dec. 12, 1955).

A registered Democrat, Newhouse is an empire builder who believes in local autonomy. He usually keeps a paper's original editorial team, makes no effort to influence his papers' political opinions; e.g., in Syracuse his morning Post-Standard (circ. 103,694) is Republican and his afternoon Her aid-Journal (circ. 132,387) is Independent Democratic. Without pretense of being an editorial man, he demands competent reporting and clean writing. He keeps a sharp eye on the budget, but is apt to increase editorial funds in the hope of returns in the form of added circulation.

Publisher Newhouse himself is pessimistic about his chances of getting the Sunpapers. "It's a profitable property--I'm afraid they're not going to sell," he admits. But he was optimistic about adding other links to his chain. "I plan to keep going," he says. "I don't think I'll catch Hearst or Scripps-Howard in my lifetime, but I think my boys Don and Si will give it a good try."

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