• by Sara Guaglione , July 8, 2020

The auctioning off of newspaper publisher McClatchy's holdings has been delayed by one day.

McClatchy, which operates over 30 local newspapers, such as the Miami Herald, the Sacramento Bee and the Kansas City Star - filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in February.

The auction held by U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan was scheduled to begin this morning. 

“McClatchy’s auction has been rescheduled for Thursday, July 9, in consultation with the relevant parties in order to enable the bidders to finalize the details of their proposals,” reads a statement from the company attached to an overnight court filing, reported by McClatchy’s Kevin G. Hall.

Bids for McClatchy were due last week.

The two top contenders are hedge funds: Chatham Asset Management (McClatchy’s leading investor and debtholder) and Alden Global Capital. Chatham, the majority owner of American Media Inc., initially offered more than $300 million, according to Hall.

Nieman Lab reports the nonprofit organization Knight Foundation was weighing making a bid, but in the end dropped out

McClatchy expects to notify the federal bankruptcy court of the winning bid by July 15.

The sale is scheduled to be approved at a July 24 hearing.

The McClatchy family has been in journalism since 1857.