Are Papers About to Land or Take Off?

[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Katharine Seelye & Andrew Ross Sorkin]
The fate of Knight Ridder newspapers, the nation's second-largest newspaper chain, could be determined any day — and with it, the future of what has come to be known as the mainstream media could become clearer. Knight Ridder owns 32 daily newspapers, including The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Miami Herald, The San Jose Mercury News and The Kansas City Star. Analysts said any bid over $65 a share would probably be accepted; anything less would put the company in a quandary. If Knight Ridder were unhappy with the offers, it might drop the sale and buy back more of its own stock in an attempt to revive its share price and provide its shareholders with a special dividend. Knight Ridder is attractive largely because, despite the current environment, its newspapers remain profitable — its overall profit margin in 2004 was 19.3 percent, which is robust. Moreover, Knight Ridder, which has several strong newspaper Web sites and various online ventures, could serve as a gateway to a substantial presence on the Internet, from which analysts expect strong revenue in the future. Its assets include CareerBuilder.com, a popular Web site that it owns jointly with Gannett and the Tribune Company. The downside is that its newspapers are just that -- newspapers, the emblem of the old media, with big costs for printing and distribution at a time when readers and advertisers are turning to multiple other sources of news and entertainment.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/09/business/media/09paper.html
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See also --

Newspapers May Get Look At Future if Knight Sells
[SOURCE: Washington Post 3/10, AUTHOR: Steven Levingston]
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/09/AR200603...
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