4 Knight Ridder Papers to Be Sold for $1 Billion

IT'S OFFICIAL: HERE ARE DETAILS ON MEDIANEWS/HEARST/MCCLATCHY DEAL
[SOURCE: Editor&Publisher and PRNewswire]
The McClatchy Company announced a definitive agreement with MediaNews Group and Hearst Corporation under which the companies will pay McClatchy $1.0 billion in cash to acquire four newspapers. MediaNews will purchase two northern California papers, the San Jose Mercury News and Contra Costa Times, and Hearst will acquire the Monterey (CA) Herald, and the St. Paul Pioneer Press in St. Paul, Minnesota. Under a separate agreement between Hearst and MediaNews, Hearst has agreed to contribute the St. Paul Pioneer Press and Monterey Herald to MediaNews in return for an equity investment in the non-San Francisco Bay Area assets of MediaNews, subject to, among other things, regulatory approval. In the event such transaction is not consummated, MediaNews has agreed to acquire these newspapers from Hearst. The four newspapers are currently owned by Knight-Ridder, which McClatchy agreed last month to acquire. The parties intend to close the transaction as promptly as possible after the close of McClatchy's Knight Ridder acquisition, which is expected this summer.
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_con...

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http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/27/business/media/27paper.html

* Mercury News and Contra Costa Times sold to MediaNews
http://www.gradethenews.org/2006/medianews.htm

* MediaNews, Hearst to Purchase Four Newspapers From McClatchy
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB114608817216136831.html?mod=todays_us_pa...

* MediaNews Adds 4 Newspapers in Deal With McClatchy and Hearst
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/26/AR200604...

* $1B for 4 McClatchy papers
http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/money/20060427/1b_newspapers27.art.htm

* Merc, CoCo Times Sold
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/04/27/SINGLETON.TMP

* Deal Set for Three Bay Area Papers
http://www.latimes.com/business/printedition/la-fi-mcclatchy27apr27,1,14...

* Analysis: Complex Sale Suggests McClatchy Deals to Come
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_con...

* Employees Raise Concerns About MediaNews Takeover
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_con...