It’s official: McClatchy Buys Knight Ridder

E&P has a good summary article regarding the now official purchase of Knight Ridder by McClatchy that was first reported in the New York Times yesterday. Of interest is the price ($4.5 Billion – capital B) and that McClatchy will sell 12 of the newly acquired KR newspapers. See quote below for details on that.

Early Monday, Knight Ridder and McClatchy Co. confirmed the deal revealed by The New York Times late Sunday. The Knight Ridder board has accepted the McClatchy buy offer of $4.5 billion.

McClatchy said it will now sell 12 KR papers, including the two Philadelphia papers and former flagship San Jose Mercury News. The company said in a statement that these papers are located in cities that “do not fit the company’s longstanding acquisition criteria, chiefly involving growing markets.”

The other papers to be divested by McClatchy are: Akron Beacon Journal (OH); Wilkes Barre Times Leader (PA); Aberdeen American News (SD); Grand Forks Herald (ND); Ft. Wayne News – Sentinel (IN); Contra Costa Times (CA); Monterey Herald (CA); and Duluth News Tribune (MN). The St. Paul Pioneer Press (MN) is to be sold due to anticipated anti-trust concerns involving McClatchy’s (Minneapolis) Star Tribune.

“These are terrific publications but simply do not fit with our long-standing acquisition and operating strategies,” said Gary Pruitt, the McClatchy chairman and CEO, in a statement.

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