SAN DIEGO (AP) — An octogenarian philanthropist launched a bid to buy San Diego’s dominant newspaper and turn it into one of the nation’s largest nonprofit news organizations, while another major Southern California publisher ceased publication of its Los Angeles newspaper after only five months.

Malin Burnham’s bid for U-T San Diego is the latest effort to frame a newspaper investment as a gesture of civic goodwill. Analysts compared the San Diego businessman to a new breed of owners at The Washington Post, The Boston Globe and Star-Tribune of Minneapolis who act largely on a belief that newspapers perform a public service.