For the second time in less than a year, notes the
Mercury News, a newspaper company is under pressure to break up into smaller pieces or sell itself off. It is Chicago-based Tribune Co. this
time, but a few short months ago, it was Knight Ridder--parent of the
Mercury News--which was forced by its three largest investors to pursue "strategic alternatives" that ended in a sale to
McClatchy. Knight Ridder will be no more in less than two weeks if shareholders approve the deal as expected. And now the Chandler family--owners of 12 percent of Tribune--are screaming for changes at
the company and attacking a recent $2 billion stock buyback plan, saying that it does not deal with the "failure of the company's fundamental strategy or its poor performance." Whether the Chandlers
make Tribune the next Knight Ridder, notes reporter Pete Carey, "the company faces the same challenges many publicly traded newspaper companies do: severe stock price declines and shareholder
unhappiness. Like Knight Ridder before it, Tribune's stock has sagged to the point where the company's parts are believed to be worth more than the whole."
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