NY Times takes over the International Tribune.

The New York Times Company has closed its deal to buy full control of the Paris-based International Herald Tribune.

The expected purchase of the 50 per cent stake owned by The Washington Post took place on Monday, said Robert McCartney, the Paris paper's managing editor.

The deal ends a 35-year alliance between The Post and Times at the International Herald Tribune. The Times said the buy was valued at less than US$75 million ($145 million).

The parting was acrimonious. The Post, in a memo in October, suggested it had been strong-armed into selling after the Times had threatened to start a competitor to the Herald Tribune.

Before the deal, the Times and Post each held half of the Herald Tribune, a 115-year-old daily with more than 20 printing sites and a circulation of about 260,000.