McClatchy Completes Sale of 12 Orphan Knight Ridder Papers

MCCLATCHY COMPLETES SALE OF 12 ORPHAN KNIGHT RIDDER PAPERS
[SOURCE: Editor&Publisher]
The McClatchy Co. announced on Tuesday that it has completed the divestiture of all 12 former Knight Ridder papers. McClatchy received a total north of $2 billion for the transactions, which represents a multiple of 11 times the last 12-month cash flows. Earlier this week, McClatchy also announced it has taken a 15% stake in CareerBuilder and ShopLocal.com and an 11.25% stake in Topix.net. McClatchy plans to use the cash received from the divestitures and Internet properties -- approximately $1.6 billion net -- to pay down its debt. The company borrowed a little more than $3 billion to acquire Knight Ridder.
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002950070

* It's official: New era begins for Times
The Contra Costa Times and San Jose Mercury News were bought by MediaNews Group Inc. on Wednesday, in a deal that creates the Bay Area's biggest newspaper empire and a conglomerate that aims to marry print news with the fast-growing power of the Internet. The Times and Mercury News fill in two key gaps in the MediaNews gambit to surround its chief rival, the San Francisco Chronicle. MediaNews now has papers based in six of the nine Bay Area counties. Together, the company's Bay Area papers have a combined weekday paid circulation of 703,000.
http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/cctimes/news/15187479.htm

* MediaNews now owns Mercury News
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/breaking_news/15187384.htm