By: Jennifer Saba McClatchy is finalizing its acquisition of Knight Ridder -- expected to happen today -- after 88% of Knight Ridder shareholders approved the deal during an annual meeting at the Fairmont Hotel in San Jose on Monday. That clears 32 newspapers to be passed to McClatchy, which in turn is sending a dozen elsewhere.
Soon-to-be-former Knight Ridder papers marked the historic transition on Monday and Tuesday in various ways, ranging from editors' letters to Philadelphia Newspapers Inc., which owns/owned The Inquirer and Daily News, giving out ice cream to employees (see separate E&P story).
As part of the agreement, McClatchy is taking on two Knight Ridder board members to its board: Tony Ridder (Knight Ridder's former chairman and CEO, serving a transitional term on the board of one to two years) and Kathleen Feldstein, president of Economic Studies.
"I am honored to join McClatchy's board of directors," said Ridder in a statement. "It is my firm belief that the future of newspapers is extraordinarily bright, and McClatchy is best positioned in the industry to chart a successful path for the papers and employees I care so deeply about."
"This week is a landmark for McClatchy and the newspaper industry," Gary Pruitt, McClatchy?s chief, said in a statement. The transaction catapults McClatchy as the industry's second largest newspaper company by circulation with 32 daily papers and a combined circ of 3.3 million.
McClatchy's board expands from 14 to 16 members and Ridder and Feldstein are two of four members who represent Class A shares. The McClatchy family holds most of the Class B shares, which have 10 times voting rights. McClatchy board members S. Donley Ritchey, the former chairman and CEO of Lucky Stores and Leroy Barnes, vice president and treasure at PG&E, will now represent Class B shares.
Yesterday's meeting was an emotional one for Ridder whose family has been part of the company since 1892. The San Jose Mercury News' Chris O'Brien reported that 20 Ridder family members, including the widow of James Batten, were present.
As part of the deal, McClatchy is divesting 12 Knight Ridder papers for $2.1 billion.
O'Brien reported that many Ridder family members had been in Wyoming on a dude ranch for an annual family reunion last week.
"It's a sad day," Peter Ridder, brother of Tony and the recently retired publisher of the Charlotte (N.C.) Observer, told the paper. "But I guess that's life, and that's what happens when you're a public company."
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