Business/Economy

Timeline: Alaska Dispatch News rooted in 1946 weekly

Jan. 13, 1946

The Anchorage News debuts as a weekly. It was founded by Norman Brown, a former managing editor for the Anchorage Times, a rival newspaper.

May 2, 1948

The weekly Anchorage News becomes a daily newspaper, in direct competition with the Anchorage Times. A Sunday newspaper is added in June 1965.

June 1967
Larry and Kay Fanning purchase the newspaper. Larry was a former editor at Chicago Daily News. Kay, formerly married to Marshall Field IV, owner of the Chicago Sun-Times for several years, moved to Anchorage in 1965 and began working at the Anchorage Daily News. Larry suffers a heart attack at his desk in 1971, and Kay takes over.

May 5, 1976

The Anchorage Daily News wins the first of its two Pulitzer Prizes, both in the public service category. The series, "Empire: The Alaska Teamsters Story," investigated the powerful Teamsters union during the building of the trans-Alaska oil pipeline.

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Jan. 17, 1979

McClatchy Co. buys the Anchorage Daily News, acquiring a controlling interest from Fanning. The company immediately boosts the nine-person editorial staff to 30.

June 1986

Anchorage Daily News moves to a new building on Northway Drive, designed to house multiple printing presses.

March 30, 1989

The newspaper wins its second Pulitzer for the "People in Peril" series, which focused on alcoholism, suicide and accidents among Alaska Natives.

June 3, 1992

The Anchorage Times folds after a long, drawn-out newspaper war, leaving the Anchorage Daily News as the city's lone daily newspaper.

August 13, 2008

Alaska Dispatch Publishing, an online news site, debuts.

Summer 2009

Alice Rogoff, former U.S. News & World Report chief financial officer and wife of billionaire David Rubenstein, co-founder of the Carlyle Group, acquires Alaska Dispatch Publishing.

April 8, 2014

Alaska Dispatch Publishing acquires the much larger Anchorage Daily News from McClatchy for $34 million, and renames the joint operation: Alaska Dispatch News. As part of the deal, Rogoff sold the newspaper's building in East Anchorage to Alaska telecommunications company GCI, formerly a tenant.

Aug. 12, 2017

On track to lose $8 million in 2017 and unable to pay bills, ADN files for Chapter 11 protection in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Anchorage.

Sept. 11, 2017

A bankruptcy judge approves the sale of ADN to the Binkley Co. LLC, a family venture owned by Ryan Binkley and his three siblings, all children of former Republican legislator and possible gubernatorial contender, John Binkley. Also involved in the new venture is Jason Evans, owner of Alaska Media LLC, a company that owns three rural Alaska newspapers. Evans and Ryan Binkley were named co-publishers, though Evans' long-term role in the company is unclear.

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