Knight Ridder Chief Expresses His Regrets Over Deal to Sell Newspapers

KNIGHT RIDDER CHIEF EXPRESSES HIS REGRETS OVER DEAL TO SELL NEWSPAPERS
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Katharine Seelye]
The chairman and chief executive of Knight Ridder, P. Anthony Ridder, who sold the newspaper chain to the McClatchy Company on Monday, said last night that he resisted the sale and then sought to persuade McClatchy to keep most of the company's 32 papers. But immediately after acquiring Knight Ridder for $4.5 billion, McClatchy and its company's chairman, Gary Pruitt, said they were putting 12 of the papers, nearly a third of them, back on the market. The acquisition of the newspaper chain will lead to the dissolution of a company that Mr. Ridder's family started in 1892, a prospect that he called depressing. The newspapers to be sold are profitable, but in difficult, slow-growth markets. They include The Inquirer and The Daily News in Philadelphia, The San Jose Mercury News and The Beacon Journal in Akron, Ohio. With these papers separated from rest of the Knight Ridder package, they are starting to attract interest from numerous potential buyers, many of them local to each market.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/15/business/media/15paper.html?pagewanted=all
(requires registration)

* Bidding For Dozen KR 'Orphans' Could Be Family Affairs
After the dramatic $6.5 billion blockbuster Knight Ridder sale between two public companies, the deals for the 12 dailies The McClatchy Co. is immediately unloading appear to be attracting family-owned groups and private investors.
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002158244

* McClatchy Now Gets 49% of 'Seattle Times'--And Gains 2 Other Washington Papers
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002158146

* Analysts Have Complicated Views of McClatchy Deal
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002158034

MEDIA CONSOLIDATION AIN'T JUST FOR TV
[SOURCE: Facing South]
[Commentary] With their acquisition of Knight Ridder, McClatchy will control most of North and South Carolina's major daily newspapers: The McClatchy Co. will become the major media player in the Carolinas and the nation’s second-largest newspaper company by paying $4.5 billion in cash and stock for Knight Ridder, parent of The State. The combined company will have seven newspapers in North Carolina and South Carolina, including the three largest. Nationwide, McClatchy will own 32 daily newspapers and roughly 50 nondaily publications, making it second to Gannett in the industry. McClatchy also will acquire The Charlotte Observer and The (Myrtle Beach) Sun News from Knight Ridder. The Sacramento, Calif.-based company already owns newspapers in Beaufort, Hilton Head Island, Rock Hill and Raleigh.
http://southernstudies.org/facingsouth/2006/03/media-consolidation.asp