Pruitt quits four family trusts

McClatchy Co. Chief Executive Gary Pruitt resigned from four family trusts that control about 41 percent of the newspaper company's voting power, the Bradenton Herald reported.

The trusts hold 12.5 million Class B shares, the Sacramento, Calif.-based company said in a regulatory filing Friday. Pruitt holds 1.2 percent of the Class A shares that have one-tenth the voting rights.

The 51-year-old executive's departure as co-trustee could be a sign that the founding McClatchy family plans to review its options for the company, said Ken Doctor, an analyst at media consultant Outsell in Burlingame, Calif.
McClatchy, which owns the former Knight Ridder Miami Herald, has lost 93 percent of its market value since March 2006, when Pruitt announced the $4.1 billion acquisition of Knight Ridder.

''They've got to be looking at some kind of a financial restructuring,'' said Doctor, who worked at Knight Ridder before McClatchy bought the company.

McClatchy climbed 20 cents, or 5.8 percent, to $3.66 Friday in New York Stock Exchange composite trading and has dropped 71 percent this year.

The family may be looking at a range of options, including a change of leadership, diversifying its holdings or a going- private transaction in which Pruitt may even participate, Doctor said. Pruitt isn't a family member, he added.

''You can't be on both ends of the transaction,'' Doctor said.