In January 2015, H.F. “Gerry” Lenfest, then owner of the storied Philadelphia Inquirer, Daily News and Philly.com, was looking for a way to unload his newspaper holdings and safeguard Philadelphia’s vibrant local journalism at the same time.

Lenfest had acquired the Philadelphia Media Network, which owns the newspapers, after bidding $88 million at a private auction in May 2014. But a month later his co-owner Lewis Katz died in an airplane crash, and Lenfest became the sole owner.