Billionaire Warren Buffet purchases the Tulsa World

The Tulsa World announced that the newspaper has been sold to BH Media Group, headed by billionaire Warren Buffet.

The Lorton family has owned the Tulsa World since 1911 and it has passed through four generations.

Buffett is chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway and is one of the richest people in the world. He was one of the biggest supporters of President Barack Obama in both of his campaigns for president.

No sale price has been announced and it is reported to close in March.

In a press conference Monday, editors claimed that few changes would result from the sale and no layoff are scheduled.

The Tulsa World’s circulation is reported to be 95,000 for daily and 133,000 for Sunday.  Those figures have decreased steadily in the last few years.

It has been the only daily newspaper in Tulsa since it purchased the Tulsa Tribune in 1992 and shut it down.

“The prospects for daily newspapers have dimmed for a couple of decades,” said Charles Biggs, publisher and editor of the Tulsa Beacon. “The rise of information from the Internet has lessened the need for daily papers.

“After the Tulsa Tribune was closed, the editorial policies and news content of the Tulsa World turn a sharp turn to the left. And the Tulsa World, like almost all metropolitan dailies, became highly critical of biblical Christianity and traditional American values like marriage, low taxes and opposition to abortion.”

Biggs, who started the Tulsa Beacon in 2001, formerly worked as a reporter and editor at the Tulsa World.