Newspaper giant McClatchy Co. Wednesday announced a deal to sell four of the major dailies it acquired as part of its acquisition of Knight Ridder to MediaNews Group Inc. and Hearst Corp. for a
combined total of $1 billion in cash. MediaNews agreed to buy two northern California papers--the
San Jose Mercury News and
Contra Costa Times--while Hearst will acquire the
Monterey
(CA) Herald, and the
St. Paul Pioneer Press in St. Paul, Minnesota. Under a separate agreement between Hearst and MediaNews, Hearst agreed to contribute the
St. Paul Pioneer Press
and
Monterey Herald to MediaNews in return for an equity investment in the non San Francisco Bay Area assets of MediaNews.
