By: Mark Fitzgerald The McClatchy Co. figures the value of its not-quite-half stake in Blethen family-controlled Seattle Times Co. has tumbled to barely one-tenth of its worth just two years ago.
In a Securities and Exchange Commission filing, McClatchy estimated its 49.5% stake in the publisher of The Seattle Times has a value of $12.06 million. That's a drop of more than one-third from the carrying value it assigned its Times Co. interest last December -- and represents a 88% drop from its estimated value of $102.2 million at the end of 2006.
McClatchy acquired the stake in the Times Co. in its acquisition of Knight Ridder.
The Seattle Times, which is the controlling partner in the joint operating agreement with Hearst Corp.'s Seattle Post-Intelligencer, has been hit hard by weakened ad revenue, and in April announced it was laying off as many as 131 employees and freezing hiring for 60 unfilled jobs.
The Times Co. has also put up for sale its newspapers in Maine, including the Portland Press Herald/Main Sunday Telegram.
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