By: Mark Fitzgerald After the dramatic blockbuster Knight Ridder sale between two public companies, the deals for the 12 dailies The McClatchy Co. is immediately unloading appear to be attracting family-owned groups and private investors.
The biggest surprise in these post-sale sales may be the wide-ranging interest in buying The Philadelphia Inquirer and The Philadelphia Daily News, the two Knight Ridder properties considered the most troubled.
William Dean Singleton, CEO of closely held MediaNews Group, toured the papers when Knight Ridder put them up for auction, and may still be interested. Normally frank, he's not talking about any of the papers McClatchy is selling.
But other private names emerged, including Chris Harte, the Maine-based investor who is an heir to the Harte-Hanks newspaper chain and remains on the board of the direct marketing and shopper publisher. Harte is also a former publisher of the Knight Ridder papers Akron (Ohio) Beacon Journal and Centre Daily Times in State College, Pa.
Harte was quoted Tuesday in a Philadelphia Inquirer story by Joseph N. DiStefano and Thomas Ginsberg as saying he was assembling a group of investors to bid for the two Philadelphia papers, and possibly others in the dozen.
"We won't pay too much for it. But we do have the backing, and we certainly could afford it," Harte told the Inquirer. Harte's office Tuesday said he was traveling and unavailable for immediate comment.
The Inquirer also said a Philadelphia public relations executive, Brian Tierney, is forming a group for a possible bid. "Everybody today I've called is saying count me in," Tierney said.
A Pennsylvania state senator from Philadelphia, Vince Fumo, "is among the locals who is thinking about trying to join a bid for the Daily News," the Inquirer story said. Some analysts have presumed that the paper may be doomed.
The Newspaper Guild is also actively pursuing the Philadelphia papers and seven other dailies where it represents newsroom employees.
A newspaper broker who specializes in California papers, Gregg Knowles, said in a telephone interview that he believes the three dailies up for sale there will have little trouble finding a buyer.
"Those are great markets, and there are people already in the market who would be interested," Knowles said. "Dean Singleton is probably the number one [interested], obviously. It would make a lot of sense for him to own San Jose and Contra Costa."
MediaNews publishes papers near three Knight Ridder papers in California up for sale: The San Jose Mercury News, the Contra Costa Times in Walnut Creek, and The Monterey County Herald in Monterey. Among the Denver-based chain's Bay area papers are the Oakland Tribune and dailies in Marin County. Singleton toured the Mercury News during the bidding process.
Two brokers who asked not to be identified said the family-owned Forum Communications, publisher of the Fargo (N.D.) Forum, would be a natural bidder for the two Plains papers up for sale: the Aberdeen (S.D.) American News, and the Grand Forks (N.D.) Herald.
The chain has also been buying Minnesota properties, and may be interested in the Duluth News Tribune, the brokers speculated. Forum CEO William Marcil has declined to comment on speculation about its plans.
Family-owned Copley Press Inc. may be a possible bidder for the Akron (Ohio) Beacon Journal. A Beacon Journal story by Jim Mackinnon quoted David Greenfield, publisher of The Repository in nearby Canton, as saying the chain would take a look at the paper.
Beacon Journal Publisher Jim Crutchfield told the staff when the intention to sell the paper was announced that it had profit margins in the double-digits and more than $100 million in revenues last year.
An article in another paper up for grabs, the St. Paul (Minn.) Pioneer Press, revealed: "There was little immediate buzz Monday about any local groups expressing interest in pursuing the Pioneer Press." But it noted that Gene Carr, chief executive of American Community Newspapers in Eden Prairie, said he was very interested in growing his cluster of Twin Cities publications.
"Anything that comes to market we will take a serious look at, without question," Carr said.
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