Tribune Publishing is shutting down Hoy, its Spanish-language newspaper.
The decision, announced Tuesday, will end the print and online publications on Dec. 13, the company said.
Launched in 2003 as a daily newspaper by Tribune Co., then the Chicago Tribune’s parent company, Hoy has served Chicago’s Hispanic population for 16 years. It supplanted Exito, a weekly publication started by the Chicago Tribune in 1993.
In recent years, Hoy’s print publication schedule was reduced to three days a week. In 2017, it became a weekly, published only on Friday. Staffing has likewise been reduced, with about a half-dozen current employees, said Tilden Katz, a spokesman for Chicago-based Tribune Publishing, which also owns the Chicago Tribune and other major daily newspapers.
“We anticipate providing all affected employees the opportunity to take open positions inside the company,” Katz said.
The Hoy brand started in New York in 1998 and grew into one of the largest Spanish-language newspapers in the U.S. In 2000, Tribune Co. acquired Hoy New York as part of the acquisition of Times Mirror, which also owned the Los Angeles Times.
Hoy New York was sold to Spanish-language publisher ImpreMedia in 2007.
In 2018, Tribune Publishing, then known as Tronc, included Hoy Los Angeles as part of its $500 million sale of the Los Angeles Times and San Diego Union-Tribune to biotech billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong. Hoy Los Angeles is not affected by Tribune’s decision to shut down Hoy Chicago.
Katz said Tribune Publishing will expand Spanish-language content through the syndicated Tribune Content Agency and is “aggressively exploring other options” to serve Hispanic readers.
