By: E&P Staff Bids are due tomorrow on the two Knight Ridder dailies up for grabs in Philadelphia, and six potential bidders are taking a stab at it, according to a Wall Steet Journal story today by Sarah Ellison. The Philadelphia Inquirer and Philadelphia Daily News are expected to fetch around half a billion dollars, she writes.
The Journal lists the six -- not all of them may actually submit bids -- as: MediaNews Group Inc., which agreed last month to buy four of the other KR papers the McClatchyCo. is selling; a group of local investors led by public-relations executive Brian Tierney and Bruce Toll of Toll Brothers Inc; Ron Burkle's investment firm Yucaipa Cos., which is allied with the Newspaper Guild-CWA; Toronto-based Onex Corp.; Avista Capital Partners, working with Christopher Harte, a former Knight Ridder exec; and Mort Zuckerman's Daily News LP.
Staffers at the two papers have expressed alarm about a possible pruchase by Onex. They are circulating a petition to send to McClatchy CEO Gary Pruitt, which reads:
"Philadelphia is a great region that has been served for years by two strong newspapers, The Philadelphia Inquirer and Daily News, which your company is in the process of acquiring and selling.
"According to a news report in the May 12 editions of The Philadelphia Inquirer, Onex Corp. of Toronto has proposed to cut in half the number of people who work in the newsrooms of these newspapers. This would come after several waves of downsizing already have cut into the bone of our ability to serve our communities. All Onex cares about is looting and pillaging the papers to extract a quick profit. Having done that, we believe they would sell the shell that remains and make a quick exit, leaving the citizens of this region to suffer the consequences of their actions for decades to come.
"We, the undersigned journalists, urge you to reject the sale of these newspapers to any party that seeks to pit workers against each other, as Onex reportedly would do, and destroy the ability of our newspapers to provide essential services to one of the most important and historic regions of the United States."
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