Pittsburgh Post-Gazette announces sale to nonprofit media group

An eleventh-hour buyer for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette emerged Tuesday, two weeks before its planned shutdown, but the prospective owners signaled that the surviving operation will be smaller and staff cuts could be expected.

The buyer — nonprofit Venetoulis Institute for Local Journalism, owner of The Baltimore Banner — said it agreed to acquire the assets of the Post-Gazette, which had been expected to shut down its website and stop printing its paper on May 3.

The reversal comes after months of uncertainty surrounding the 240-year-old paper’s future. Owners announced the closure after a lengthy, bitter strike and failed attempts by the Post-Gazette to convince the U.S. Supreme Court to halt a lower court order that required the company to make changes to its health insurance coverage for union workers.