Knight Ridder bugs out of Detroit

Hear about KR bugging out of Detroit? A whole blog is needed to report on it.

Here’s the beginning of the official news release. Click on the headline to read it all.

SAN JOSE, Calif., Aug. 3 /PRNewswire_FirstCall/ __ Knight Ridder and Gannett today announced an exchange of assets involving four of their newspapers and cash consideration.
In the exchange, Knight Ridder will receive from Gannett The (Boise) Idaho Statesman, and two newspapers in the state of Washington, The (Olympia) Olympian, and The Bellingham Herald. In return, Gannett will receive the Tallahassee (Fla.) Democrat and an undisclosed cash consideration.

The transaction is subject to regulatory review and will close once that process is completed, probably the first week in September.

Knight Ridder Chairman and CEO Tony Ridder said, "As we continue to review our portfolio of newspapers, other print products, Internet sites and investments, we are constantly impressed by the performance of our mid-sized and smaller newspapers -especially those in growth areas. This exchange gives us the opportunity to add three newspapers in robust western markets. Each one performs strongly; together, they will make a very solid addition to our existing lineup.

"Simultaneously, we feel keenly the loss of the Tallahassee Democrat. Its journalistic tradition in the state capital is deeply rooted; its people -- friends and colleagues for many years -- are talented and dedicated. We thank them and wish them well. We will miss them."

You can read more about the personnel changes in the news release above by clicking on the headline.

Here’s the graph on BJ type Mizell Stewart:

Tallahassee Democrat President and Publisher Mike Pate will remain with Knight Ridder in a consulting role through the end of the year, when he plans to retire. Vice President/Editor Mizell Stewart will remain with Knight Ridder in a role yet to be determined.

Editor & Publisher has a number of reports which can be found on their web site:
Jennifer Saba, an associate editor and analyst for Editor & Publisher filed a story headlined "Profit concerns likely driving Knight Ridder’s Detroit Pullout" which quotes media analyst John Morton:

"Knight Ridder has been promising Wall Street it was going to improve its profit margins," Morton said Wednesday. "One of the biggest drags on that was Detroit."
The grand old time when newspaper companies had sentimental attachments to properties they own is long gone."

As of 3:09 p.m. Wednesday, Gannett's stock was trading down $.28 from yesterday's closing price of $72.27. At the same time, Knight Ridder's stock was up $.05 from yesterday's closing price of $61.91.

And from Phila:
As the news spread across newsrooms at other big_city newspapers in the chain Wednesday, journalist reaction ranged from fear that their paper could be next to sadness for colleagues in Detroit to a faint hope that the move might free up more reporting resources.

In Philadelphia, executives moved quickly to calm any trepidation in the newsrooms of The Philadelphia Inquirer and The Philadelphia Daily News.

In a memo to staffers, Inquirer Executive Editor Amanda Bennett said she had listened to the conference call announcement with Publisher Joe Natoli. "While this is obviously a huge move for Knight Ridder, and for Detroit and Tallahassee, it has no direct bearing on us here in Philadelphia."

Philadelphia's Newspaper Guild Local President Henry Holcomb said he was inclined to agree.
"I can't see a direct connection," he said. "The Detroit situation has been a complicated situation for a long time, and I just don't see any sign that it means [Knight Ridder] is getting out of big cities or anything like that. ... I would tell our members it has no direct bearing on them."

Knight Ridder was in an "untenable situation...so different from any other paper I know anything about in the company," added Holcomb, who is treasurer of the national Guild's "Knight Ridder Watch" Web site that tracks developments around the chain.

P.S. "Knight Ridder Watch" still had nothing on its web site at press time–or my browser is screwing up

Headquartered in San Jose, Calif., Knight Ridder publishes 32 daily newspapers, and, through Knight Ridder Digital, publishes 34 Web sites and operates the Real Cities Network of local news sites in more than 110 markets nationwide.