• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

Beacon Bids Are Expected By May 31: Canadian Won't Say Whether He's Pursuing Beacon Journal

Posted on: Thursday, 18 May 2006, 12:04 CDT

By Gloria Irwin, The Akron Beacon Journal, Ohio

May 18--Bids for the Akron Beacon Journal and five other Knight Ridder Inc. newspapers are due by May 31, according to a potential bidder.

David Black, owner of the Canadian newspaper company Black Press Ltd., said Wednesday that he is interested in buying some of the newspapers McClatchy Co. is reselling as part of its purchase of Knight Ridder.

McClatchy, based in Sacramento, Calif., is selling 12 of Knight Ridder's 32 daily newspapers because they don't meet McClatchy's standards for market growth.

Black, who toured the Beacon Journal on May 1, would not say whether his company intends to bid for the Akron newspaper.

"We're looking at various papers that McClatchy is selling," Black said.

McClatchy spokeswoman Elaine Lintecum said she could not discuss the bidding process. "We don't think that's in our best interests or that of the buyers," she said.

Beacon Journal publisher James Crutchfield would not discuss potential bids.

"It's a confidential process, and I can't talk about it," he said.

Black Press was among five parties that submitted bids Tuesday for the Philadelphia Inquirer and Daily News, according to Inquirer and Bloomberg reports. The bids were in addition to a previous one by MediaNews Group Inc. of Denver.

Also among Tuesday's bidders was Yucaipa Cos., the California private equity firm allied with the union representing some newspaper employees. Spokesman Frank Quintero declined to comment, but the company previously said it was interested in buying all the newspapers that McClatchy wants to sell.

Christopher Harte, a former Beacon Journal publisher, is part of another investor group that submitted a bid.

McClatchy wants $600 million for the Philadelphia papers, according to the Inquirer.

Various newspaper industry formulas place the Beacon Journal's price tag between $120 million and $180 million.

McClatchy has already agreed to sell three California papers and the St. Paul Pioneer Press in Minnesota to MediaNews Group.

Once McClatchy completes negotiations for the Philadelphia newspapers, it will be left with six properties to sell.

Included are newspapers in Duluth, Minn., Grand Forks, N.D., Aberdeen, S.D., Fort Wayne, Ind., and Wilkes-Barre, Pa.

McClatchy closed up $1 to $47.22 on Wednesday. Knight Ridder closed up 63 cents to $63.16.

Gloria Irwin can be reached at 330-996-3720 or at girwin@thebeaconjournal.com

-----

Copyright (c) 2006, The Akron Beacon Journal, Ohio

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

For information on republishing this content, contact us at (800) 661-2511 (U.S.), (213) 237-4914 (worldwide), fax (213) 237-6515, or e-mail reprints@krtinfo.com.

NYSE:KRI, NYSE:MNI, Unknown:MNG, Unknown:YCO,

Source: Akron Beacon Journal (Akron, Ohio)

More News in this Category