The Bay Guardian handed out "Goldie Awards" annually for excellence in the arts and similar areas.

[citation needed] In March 2008, the Bay Guardian won a predatory pricing lawsuit against its local rival, SF Weekly, based on allegations that SF Weekly undercut the Bay Guardian by selling display advertisements below cost while supporting itself on cash infusions from its parent, Village Voice Media, in an effort to force the Bay Guardian into bankruptcy.

These rumors were initially denied by its executive editor Tim Redmond,[6][7] but the sale went through a week later.

[8] On January 15, 2013, their longstanding rival SF Weekly was sold to the San Francisco Newspaper Group, which publishes the Bay Guardian.

[9][10] In mid-June 2013, San Francisco Business Times and other publications reported that Tim Redmond had "been ousted" as publisher and editor.

[11][12] On October 14, 2014, publisher Glenn Zuehls announced that the San Francisco Media Co., which also owns SF Weekly, had decided to close the publication.

[14] In October 2015, the Bay Guardian's print and digital archives were handed over to the San Francisco Center for Newspaper Preservation, a newly founded nonprofit organization led by Marke Bieschke (the paper's former publisher) and Tim Redmond.