• March 13, 2006

At a time when many are turning their backs on the newspaper industry, The McClatchy Co. is betting big. McClatchy, publisher of 12 daily newspapers including 149-year-old The Sacramento Bee, Monday said it acquired Knight Ridder Inc., the nation's second largest newspaper chain, in a deal valued at $6.5 billion, including $2.0 billion in debt. McClatchy said it would sell 12 of the Knight Ridder papers, resulting in a company publishing 32 dailies and approximately 50 non-daily newspapers, with a combined daily circulation of about 3.2 million, making it the nation's second largest newspaper company measured by daily circulation. Knight Ridder publishes a number of highly regarded major market dailies including, The Miami Herald, Kansas City Star, Fort Worth Star-Telegram and Charlotte Observer. McClatchy said it plans to divest 12 Knight Ridder papers including two majors, The Philadelphia Inquirer and The San Jose Mercury News. -- Joe Mandese