Bidder Interest Apparently Intense in KR's Plains States 'Orphans'

By: Mark Fitzgerald When The McClatchy Co. CEO Gary Pruitt capped the announcement of the blockbuster acquisition of Knight Ridder Inc. by putting a dozen of the dailies up for immediate resale, he declared that the papers served "slow-growth" markets that didn't interest the company.

But while burgs such as Duluth, Minn., Grand Forks, N.D., and Aberdeen, S.D., may be no one's idea of the next Las Vegas or Phoenix boomtown, the newspapers published in the Great Plains are apparently attracting some intense bidding interest.

For example, in a running story that is becoming as much a daily staple of the pages of the Aberdeen (S.D.) American News as its Sudoku puzzle, staff writer Emily Arthur reported yet again Friday on yet another mystery group taking a late-night tour of the premises. The group, she reported, is -- yes -- "believed to be interested in buying the American News."

That tour, the paper reported, was the fifth visit from apparent potential visitors in the last day. Only one group, a delegation from Fargo (N.D.) Forum parent Forum Communications, identified itself as it poked around the paper.

Similarly, the Grand Forks (N.D.) Herald reported Friday that at least three groups of people believed in the newsroom to be potential bidders have toured the newspaper since May 13. The most recent was a delegation from South Bend, Ind.-based Schurz Communications, Kyle Johnson, a student intern reported in an article in the Herald Friday.

Forum executives have toured the Herald, the paper said. And a visit from representatives of the big Birmingham, Ala.-based chain Community Newspaper Holdings Inc. (CNHI) "is believed to have occurred earlier this week," Johnson reported.

A CNHI delegation apparently headed by President and CEO Donna Barrett also toured the Duluth (Minn.) News Tribune, the paper reported Friday in an article by staff writer Peter Passi.

Forum President and CEO William Marcil toured the News Tribune last week. Billionaire Ron Burkle's Yucaipa Companies is backing a Newspaper Guild bid for all the unsold Knight Ridder papers, but it is not clear if representatives have toured any of the Plains papers.