Posted on 03/14/2006 12:03:54 PM PST by abb
Tony Ridder, chairman and chief executive officer of Knight Ridder, spent the past several weeks crafting the best deal he could to sell his company. And he feels terrible about it.
Forced by dissident shareholders in November to offer the company for sale, Ridder found what looked like a good deal for the Knight Ridder family of 32 papers -- a sale to McClatchy of Sacramento. But it has turned into what Ridder sees as the shocking abandonment of 12 of them.
While Ridder had always expected a successful bidder to sell off some of the papers, he said Monday, it was not until late last week that he understood the extent of McClatchy's plans.
``I was just stunned when I heard they were selling San Jose and Contra Costa, and Monterey, too,'' he said in an occasionally emotional, hourlong interview in his office atop the downtown high-rise that bears Knight Ridder's name.
(Excerpt) Read more at mercurynews.com ...
Sounds good to me. The SJ Merk's got no where to go but up.
Daddy had fun and success in horse racing but Knight-Ridder dropped the racing coverage in Philly Daily News. Talk about biting hand that feeds you!
Also, a business decision years ago focused the paper in an urban way (smaller circulation routes and leftist, racist content) but that demographic didn't support papers the way the suburbs do.
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