Friday, April 28, 2006

Next up for McClatchy

With four papers among the "Deserted Dozen" in the original Knight Ridder/McClatchy suddenly gone, to MediaNews Group, attention shifted today to Philadelphia where a number of investors have been touring the facilities of the Inquirer and Daily News all week.

Editor & Publisher said executives from a possible fresh suitor--the New York Daily News--are expected to meet today with investment bankers and managers at the two papers.

Marc Z. Kramer, chief executive officer of Daily News L.P., "and half a dozen of his colleagues are scheduled to visit the Philadelphia newspapers' Broad Street headquarters."

The Inquirer counts the Daily News as "among at least five entities that have expressed interest in the Philadelphia newspapers."

Another report in the Tampa Bay Business Journal said the U.S. Department of Justice still has some questions for The McClatchy Co. as it tries to wrap up its acquisition of Knight-Ridder Inc.

The Justice Department, which is checking for antitrust concerns in the acquisition, is requesting more information from McClatchy over its proposed acquisition of the St. Paul Pioneer Press in St. Paul, Minn., a paper that McClatchy officials already said they would divest. McClatchy already owns another daily paper, the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, in the area.

McClatchy officials say this is business as usual with its acquisition of Knight-Ridder. The company knew there would be concerns about owning two newspapers in the same market and had planned to sell off the St. Paul paper as part of the transaction.

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