The purchase ends the San Francisco Joint Operating Agreement.

Also included in the acquisition by Hearst is SF Gate, which provides the Bay Area with online news, information and entertainment.

Hearst announced March 17 that it had entered into a definitive agreement to sell the Examiner to ExIn. Under terms of that agreement, following a four-month transition period, the Examiner, which was published under the JOA with the Chronicle, would be published separately as an independent newspaper.

Hearst said it will offer continued employment to all employees at the Chronicle, the San Francisco Newspaper Agency, which managed the JOA, and any employees at the Examiner who choose to continue employment with Hearst.

The Chronicle, with a daily circulation of 482,268, is the largest newspaper in northern California, and the second-largest on the West Coast. It was founded by Charles and Michael deYoung in 1965, and it has been owned and operated over the succeeding 135 years by the family’s heirs.

The Hearst Corp. is one of the nation’s largest diversified communications companies, with major interests in magazine, newspaper and business publishing, cable networks, radio and television broadcasting, Internet businesses, television production and distribution, newspaper features distribution and real estate.

Gannett Co. Inc. completed the purchase of 19 dailies from Thomson Newspapers Inc. for a little over $1 billion. Gannett bought sixteen dailies in Wisconsin and Ohio, and three newspapers in Louisiana, Maryland and Utah.

Two newspapers in Southwest Ohio, originally part of the deal, may instead go to Cox Newspapers Inc. Cox has exercised its right of first refusal for the Middletown Journal and Journal News in Hamilton.

Gannett also completed a cash tender offer for more than 32 million shares of Class A common stock, and more than 55 million shares of Class B common stock of Central Newspapers Inc.

Gannett assumed control of Central Newspapers on Aug. 1, naming Gannett President and Chief Executive Officer Douglas McCorkindale as president and CEO of Central.

Gannett bought The (Phoenix) Arizona Republic, The Indianapolis Star, The Muncie (Ind.) Star Press, The Vincennes (Ind.) Sun-Commercial, The Alexandria (La.) Daily Town Talk, and Topics Newspapers, publishers of several small newspapers in Indiana.

Gannett now owns 99 dailies, and more than 200 non-daily publications in the United States.

Journal Register Co. signed a letter of intent to sell The Telegraph, (daily, 27,622; Sunday 29,417) in Alton Ill., to Freedom Communications Inc. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

Journal Register announced plans to sell its Ohio, Missouri and Illinois newspaper holdings in February, and recently announced an agreement to sell the Suburban Newspapers of Greater St. Louis to Pulitzer Inc.

Freedom Communications is a privately owned, diversified media company of daily and weekly newspapers, broadcast television stations, magazines and Internet businesses headquartered in Irvine, Calif. Freedom’s flagship newspaper is The Orange County Register in Santa Ana, Calif.

Journal Register owns 25 daily newspapers and 200 non-daily publications, and operates 147 Web sites featuring its publications. The company has equity investments in AdOne L.L.C., an Internet-based classified advertising service, and PowerAdz.com L.L.C., an Internet infrastructure provider for the newspaper industry.

CanWest Global Communications acquired some of the newspaper, magazine and Internet assets of Hollinger International in a transaction valued at $3 billion.

CanWest will pay $2.2 billion in cash and $600 million in the form of 24.3 million non-voting stock shares.

CanWest will own more than a dozen major Canadian dailies including the Vancouver Sun, the Calgary Herald, the Montreal Gazette and the Edmonton Journal.

The National Post, based in Toronto, will remain a stand-alone publication with both CanWest and Hollinger owning 50 percent of the national daily.

Also headed to CanWest under the deal are 136 dailies, weeklies and shoppers in smaller communities, 85 trade publications and directories, and all of Hollinger’s Internet properties, including canada.com, career-click.com, a job search site, and carclick.com., an automobile search site.