Almost three years after it was bought with Chicago’s Tribune Publishing newspaper chain for US$633 million, the Baltimore Sun is back in private ownerwhip.

David Smith, executive chairman of broadcaster Sinclair, has bought the paper privately from Alden Global Capital for an undisclosed sum.

The paper says Smith bought the newspaper – along with the Capital Gazette papers in Annapolis, Carroll County Times, Towson Times and “several other Baltimore-area weeklies and magazines”, because of the publications’ focus on local news in the Baltimore area.

He spoke of the “absolute responsibility” to serve the public interest, adding that he believed the paper could be “hugely profitable and successful and serve a greater public interest over time”.

Alden bought the paper in May 2021, with MediaNews Group chief operating officer Guy Gilmore saying the company was “always open to discussions about local ownership” and pleased that its operating and technology platform would continue to provide services for The Sun.

Smith said he aimed to “help turn around a struggling newspaper industry”, a decline he blamed on the industry’s inability to adapt to a changing market and to the internet, which has upended consumption and delivery of news and advertising.

He said he believes he can grow subscriptions and advertising for The Sun and its other publications by focusing more heavily on local and community news and investigations, boosting the use of video and social media, and integrating technology “in ways other print media companies have been unable to do”.

Existing arrangements with Tribune for newspaper design, human resources, accounting and other backroom functions will continue for the time being.

The Sun has been owned by out-of-town companies since 1986 when A.S. Abell Co – which was related to the family which founded it in 1837 – sold the paper to Times Mirror, the Los Angeles-based media company that included the Los Angeles Times.

Former state senator and Choice Hotel chairman Stewart Bainum Jr had attempted to buy The Sun in 2021, but instead started the nonprofit Baltimore Banner website when he coluld not reach a deal. Billionaire businessman Patrick Soon-Shiong bought the Los Angeles Times from Tribune in 2018, but sold the San Diego Union-Tribune and other newspapers – bought as part of the deal – to Alden mid last year.