Billionaire entrepreneur Matthew Prince and his wife, Tatiana, are buying The Park Record newspaper, according to a press release from the couple and various media reports. The semiweekly newspaper has published continuously since 1880.
The Princes are acquiring the publication and its website from Swift Communications, a subsidiary of Wheeling, West Virginia-based Ogden Newspapers. Ogden Newspapers also owns the Ogden Standard-Examiner, the Provo Daily Herald and The Pyramid in Mt. Pleasant, as well as about 115 weekly and daily newspapers stretching from New York to Hawaii.{mprestriction ids="1,3"}
Matthew Prince co-founded and is the CEO of Cloudflare, a San Francisco-based Internet infrastructure and cybersecurity company that went public in 2019. According to Forbes, his net worth is roughly $2.3 billion. He is widely considered to be the second-wealthiest person in Utah, behind Gail Miller.
In their press release, the Princes said they plan to eventually convert the paper into a nonprofit organization or public benefit corporation, much as the Huntsman family did with The Salt Lake Tribune following their purchase of the newspaper in 2016.
Ogden Newspapers bought The Park Record from Swift Communications in 2021. The Princes’ purchase returns the paper to local ownership for the first time since 2005, when it was partly owned by Peter Bernhard, brother of longtime publisher Andy Bernhard. The Princes said they hope to make print copies freely available, while focusing on the paper’s online presence.
“We are proud to be full-time residents of Park City and plan to invest in The Park Record to make it an even better resource for fellow locals and visitors alike,” said Tatiana Prince. “We live in one of the most beautiful places on Earth. The Park Record can, and should, be a hub for our unique community. We’re committed to investing in making that happen.”
“In our brief period of ownership, perhaps the best thing we’ll have done is deposit The Park Record in such fantastic hands,” said Cameron Nutting Williams, an owner of Ogden Newspapers. “Ownership of local media matters. We only considered selling to a family that had deep roots and a commitment to Park City. We’re proud to have the Princes as the new owners of The Park Record and I have the utmost confidence that they will be great stewards of the newspaper and its mission.”
As multi-generational Park City locals over the years, the Prince family has helped to build local institutions like the Alpine Slide, Parley’s Summit Ski Resort (the precursor to Woodward), the Stein Eriksen Lodge and the Yarrow Hotel (now the DoubleTree Hotel).
The Park Record will continue operations as normal with its current staff, Matthew Prince said.
Financial details of the acquisition were not disclosed.{/mprestriction}
