With the future of print newspapers looking bleak, Richard Connor is making what many would see as a surprising business move. Having purchased three Maine dailies this month, he looks to expand both their online and print components.

A Maine native, Connor sees sentimental value as well as potential profit in the papers he purchased.

“I’ve known these papers my entire life and understand their considerable value as critical information sources within their communities and throughout the state,” Connor said in a press release. He believes there is a market in Maine for local news and local advertising, and expects to turn a profit within a year.

Connor, along with investors from Dallas-based HM Capital Partners LLS, bought the papers, along with the accompanying web site Mainetoday.com, from Seattle Times subsidiary Blethen Maine Newspapers. Also included in the deal was The Maine Sunday Telegram, which, along with the web site, the Portland Press Herald, The Kennebec Journal, and The Morning Sentinel, composes Connor’s new company: Mainetoday Media, Inc.

Though the new company let go 31 non-union employees, the president of the Press Herald’s largest union says Connor’s purchase of the companies was better than bankruptcy, which was the alternative, according to News 8 of Portland.

Connor wrote in a statement published in his company’s first Press Herald, “We love newspapers and still believe in them. We love Maine, too,” referring to himself and Seattle Times CEO Frank Blethen.

The statement also stated that Connor’s newspaper in Pennsylvania hit a record-high profit last week.

A confident Connor told WMTW, “We are risk takers. We are adventuresome. We believe that there is a great market here for newspaper and online readers, and we’re positive we’ll grow it quite frankly,” Connor said.

Connor has begun to place boxes of free newspapers in places that his company believes see a lot of foot traffic and said in the Press Herald that he considers any literature with advertising to be competition, even the free papers. He plans to generate readership for the print edition of his newspaper by enticing people through the online components.

Connor also told Maine readers to expect to see a thicker Portland Press Herald in the near future, though he believes that additional local news would bolster even a thinner paper, according to the Maine Sunday Telegram.

Connor hopes to create “a seamlessness between online and print, two forces working together, and when you combine them, they’re very, very powerful,” he said to News 8.

While Connor is hopeful for his newly purchased media, the Seattle Times was trying to sell what now composes Mainetoday Media, Inc. for over a year. Yet to be seen is whether Connor’s enthusiasm and high expectations for Maine’s unique market will be enough to keep readers and advertisers’ faith in the shrinking print media industry.

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