PATRIOT LEDGER COULD FETCH $100 MILLION

By: George Garneau Mass. Paper Has Several Potential Buyers



(Mediaweek) James F. Plugh, who bought The Patriot Ledger in Quincy, Mass., two years
ago from a family that owned it for 129 years, has put the 74,000-circulation daily on
the market once more.



Plugh, 54, said he made the decision 'with deep regret' after suffering what he told
employees was 'ministroke.' In a letter Monday, he said, 'This is not the outcome I
expected when we began our venture more than five years ago.'



He and new York financier Frank E. Richardson acquired the Patriot Ledger, Sunday
circulation 90,000, for a reported $90 million from the Low family in 1998, a year
after buying The Enterprise, a 45,000 circulation afternoon daily in nearby Brockton.



The group, also including a weekly operation, could fetch $100 million, The Boston Globe
reported. Boston Herald Publisher Patrick Purcell, and Kirk Davis, president of the
Needham-based Community Newspaper Group, a major community newspaper chain in the area,
have expressed an interest, the Globe said.



Other likely bidders include the New York Times Co., which owns the Boston Globe and
bought the Worcester Telegram & Gazette last year for $295 million, and William Dean
Singleton, whose New England holdings include the Lowell Sun.



Plugh has retained investment banker Donaldson Lufkin Jenrette to pursue a sale, or
alternative moves. Plugh said he and other investors would seek a ''strong, suitable
company to replace us as owners.'