McClatchy Paying Out Last Dividend For 'Foreseeable Future'

By: E&P Staff Under pressure to pay down debt even faster, The McClatchy Co. said late Tuesday it was suspending its quarterly dividend for the "foreseeable future" after making one last payout.

Sacramento, Calif.-based McClatchy said it "will suspend its quarterly dividend after paying the first quarter 2009 dividend for the foreseeable future in order to preserve cash for debt repayment."

Numerous publicly traded newspaper companies have either reduced their dividend, as The New York Times Co. did recently, or eliminated it altogether. Among those eliminating the dividend at least temporarily were Lee Enterprises and GateHouse Media.

McClatchy said it would pay a cash dividend of nine cents per share payable April 1 to stockholders of record at the close of business on March 11.

McClatchy noted in its announcement that he first quarter 2009 dividend of nine cents per share is half the per-share dividend paid in the first quarter of 2008.