A map with a March 14 Business article incorrectly identified the State in Columbia, S.C., as a McClatchy Corp. newspaper. The paper is owned by Knight Ridder Inc. A March 14 Business article incorrectly referred to newspaper analyst John Morton as John C. Morton.
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McClatchy's Paper Chase
Henry Anderson, of Santa Clara, Calif., with a copy of the San Jose Mercury News. McClatchy, which bought Knight Ridder, plans to sell off the paper.
(By Tony Avelar -- Associated Press)
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Gannett Co. of McLean, the country's biggest newspaper publisher, as well as Colorado's MediaNews Group Inc. are the most likely buyers for those newspapers, analysts and investment bankers said. Less likely buyers could be private equity funds, including a group led by Boston funds Bain Capital LLC and Thomas H. Lee Partners LP, which submitted a losing bid for Knight Ridder.
A Gannett spokesman declined to comment and MediaNews Group did not return phone calls. A Bain spokesman also declined to comment.
Another interested buyer is Yucaipa Cos., a buyout fund run by Los Angeles billionaire Ron Burkle that has made similar purchases of grocery store chains and other types of businesses. Newspaper workers represented by the Newspaper Guild-Communications Workers of America have teamed up with Yucaipa to make a bid on eight of the union-shop newspapers McClatchy is selling.
"We certainly have a keen and stated interest in eight properties and [will] take a look at all 12," said Ian Laird of Duff & Phelps Securities, which is advising Yucaipa and the union on a potential bid.
By choosing to keep some of the Knight Ridder newspapers and jettisoning others, McClatchy set off a fresh wave of anxiety in some newsrooms across the country and relief in others. Knight Ridder informed the newspapers of their potential sales only after it had issued its early morning news release yesterday, provoking surprise and anger in some newsrooms. Knight Ridder sent corporate officers to all of the newspapers it was divesting to hold meetings with the staff.
At the Akron Beacon Journal, a newspaper now on the block, reporters and editors began their day contemplating their futures, said the paper's editor, Debra Adams Simmons. "Today is a sad day in the life of the Akron Beacon Journal because the Akron Beacon is the original Knight newspaper," she said.
Mike Antonucci, a writer on popular culture for the San Jose Mercury News, another newspaper to be sold, said some staff members believed the daily, once a star performer in the Knight Ridder stable, would fall into strong journalistic hands while others were doubtful. "There's a sensation of, 'How in the world did we go from being such a robust economic force in Knight Ridder to a paper that McClatchy is immediately going to divest,' " he said.
The mood was different at the Charlotte Observer, one of the newspapers in a growth market that McClatchy will keep. Rick Thames, the Observer's editor, said a McClatchy executive reassured the newsroom of the company's commitment to quality journalism. "There's a great sense of relief in the newsroom today," Thames said. "We've all read about the potential suitors and if you were to go and look of the company most compatible with the values of Knight Ridder you'd go to McClatchy. People felt this was best possible outcome, at least for Charlotte."
Though many newspapers are struggling to maintain circulation, most are enjoying gains in overall readership measured by people who go to the print and online editions. Clark Gilbert, an assistant professor at Harvard Business School, believes the Internet presents vast opportunities for newspapers to tap into new avenues of advertising.
"I'd be the first to say the newspaper industry is under attack -- the core print business is threatened," he said. "But at the same time, the newspaper industry is poised on brink for a growth opportunity."
