David Holmes Black

Notable work and positions

Black Press Group Ltd. (Black Press Media) - Founder and Chairman
British Columbia and Yukon Community Newspaper Association - President
American Press Institute - Director

Biography

David Holmes Black is a Canadian media proprietor who founded Black Press Group Ltd. in 1975 and built it into the largest independently owned publisher of weekly newspapers in western Canada. Born in Vancouver, he earned a civil engineering degree from the University of British Columbia and an MBA from the University of Western Ontario, then worked briefly at Crown Life Insurance and as a junior business analyst in Torstar's acquisitions department. In 1975 he purchased the Williams Lake Tribune in British Columbia - previously owned by his father, Alan Black - for $60,000, launching his own newspaper company. Black expanded steadily through acquisitions across British Columbia, Alberta, and the Northwest Territories, and into the United States through subsidiaries Sound Publishing (Washington and Alaska) and Oahu Publications, which owns Hawaii's Honolulu Star-Advertiser. He served as the company's chairman, and previously as CEO and president, maintaining a notably low public profile despite the scale of his holdings. On January 15, 2024, Black Press entered creditor protection under Canada's Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act, and Black's retirement as president was announced the same day; the company was acquired by Carpenter Media Group and Canadian investment firms Canso Investment Counsel and Deans Knight Capital Management in a deal completed in March 2024.

Career highlights

• Founded Black Press 1975 · Began with the purchase of the Williams Lake Tribune in British Columbia; grew the company into the largest independently owned publisher of weekly newspapers in western Canada, with more than 150 titles at its peak.

• U.S. expansion Formed Sound Publishing in 1987 to operate newspapers in Washington state and Alaska, and acquired Hawaii's Honolulu Star-Bulletin in 2001, later merging it with the Honolulu Advertiser to create the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, the sixth-largest U.S. daily newspaper by print circulation.

• Business Laureates of British Columbia Hall of Fame Inducted 2009.

• Margaret Hennigar Award for Exemplary Leadership Canadian Community Newspaper Association, 2008.