As the McClatchy company prepares to sell 12 of the Knight-Ridder newspapers it just bought, prospective suitors have one main question on their mind: Will buying one of the papers help make them a regional superpower?
An excerpt from the NYT story:
"It's a delicate game of strategy right now," said Thomas Russo, a partner at Gardner Russo & Gardner, a capital management firm in Lancaster, Pa.
The sales are likely to lead to a further consolidation of the newspaper industry around the country. During the last decade or so, newspapers have been "clustering," that is, buying papers near one another, allowing them to save money by combining their advertising sales and printing operations and, in some cases, their news divisions.
Analysts said that clustering was a major motivation for many of the newspaper companies that are now interested in pieces of Knight Ridder. To achieve their ends, these companies could go into partnerships or even swap other papers.
According to analysts, the newspaper companies that are potential buyers include the following:
¶The MediaNews Group, Dean Singleton's company, which already owns nearly two dozen papers in California and will almost certainly be interested in at least 3 of the 12 Knight Ridder papers: The San Jose Mercury News, The Contra Costa Times and The Herald of Monterey County.
¶Gannett, the nation's biggest newspaper publisher with operations in 41 states, including Indiana and Ohio, which may want The News-Sentinel in Fort Wayne, Ind., and The Akron Beacon Journal.
¶ Lee Enterprises, which owns dailies in the Midwest and could be looking at The Pioneer Press in St. Paul as well as The Duluth News Tribune, The Aberdeen American News in South Dakota and The Grand Forks Herald in North Dakota.
¶Forum Communications of Fargo, N.D., which may also be interested in the papers in Aberdeen, Fort Wayne and Duluth.
A single company buyer is less obvious for the two Knight Ridder papers in Philadelphia, The Inquirer and The Daily News. Gannett owns The News Journal in Wilmington, Del., and The Courier-Post in nearby Cherry Hill, N.J. At the same time, Mr. Singleton has a reputation for being attracted to bigger newspapers in difficult markets.
Finally, there is The Times Leader in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., which has direct competition. The paper reported yesterday that Times-Shamrock, which owns The Times Leader's competitor, The Citizens' Voice, would be a logical suitor but that if Times-Shamrock did buy the paper, it would probably have to close one because of antitrust concerns.