Businessmen and philanthropists George Argyros and Larry Higby are interested in buying the Orange County Register, the Business Journal has learned.

Separately, the Register is said to be in talks with once-bitter rival the Los Angeles Times about combining some operations in a cost-sharing deal.

"We are having a lot of conversations that in the past in a different environment would have been inconceivable," said Scott Flanders, chief executive of the Register's parent company, Irvine-based Freedom Communications Inc.

Argyros, a real estate and investments billionaire, and Apria Healthcare Group Inc. Chief Executive Higby have talked with Flanders about their interest in buying the Register, according to sources familiar with the situation.

When asked about the talks, Flanders declined to comment.

Argyros and Higby weren't available for comment.

The businessmen reportedly expressed a desire to keep the Register independent and locally owned.

The conversations were described as preliminary.

The overture from Argyros and Higby comes as the Register and almost all other daily newspapers are reeling from declining readership and a steep drop in advertising revenue, particularly in once-lucrative classified ads that have moved to the Internet.

Freedom Communications, which owns dailies, weekly community papers and television stations across the country, has revenue of more than $750 million a year, down from more than $800 million last year. The flagship Register accounts for about a third of its revenue and now a smaller share of profits.

Argyros, chairman and chief executive of Costa Mesa-based real estate company Arnel & Affiliates and the money behind investment firm Westar Capital LLC, is one of the county's best-known figures.

A longtime friend of Argyros, Higby was recruited by Argyros to Lake Forest-based Apria, a provider of healthcare to patients in their homes. Argyros was an investor and driving force behind the creation of Apria in the 1990s.

Higby recently negotiated the sale of Apria to Blackstone Group LP (the same company that's invested in the Register) for $1.6 billion. The deal is expected to close by year's end.