Posted on 03/09/2007 10:28:47 AM PST by abb
CHICAGO Standard & Poor's Ratings Service (S&P) put The McClatchy Co. on negative credit watch, warning it may contemplate downgrading its rating to two notches above junk status.
After Sacramento-based McClatchy's acquisition of Knight Ridder Inc. last year, S&P lowered the chain's rating to "BBB," an investment grade. The negative watch indicates the rating could be downgraded to "BBB-minus."
S&P has downgraded several newspaper companies in recent months, and the McClatchy warning suggested the agency was wary of continuing troubles in the industry.
McClatchy opened for trading at $35.49 Friday, 10 cents above the low for its 52-week trading range of $35.39 to $53.24.
"There was a land of Publishers and Editors called the Newspaper Business... Here in this pretty world Journalism took its last bow... Here was the last ever to be seen of Reporters and their Enablers, of Anonymous Sources and of Stringers... Look for it only in books, for it is no more than a dream remembered. A Civilization Gone With the Wind..."
With apologies to Margaret Mitchell...
Ping
Is the Raleigh Noise and Disturber still a McClatchy paper?
Yes. Used to belong to Knight Ridder.
Die you egg sucking pigs!
Wally, the problem is that all of these monsters are subdivisions of larger liberal corporations whose leadership can write off the losses. I don't think ANY amount of losses will affect these organizations, any more than the boutique owned by a rich guy's wife, which loses thousands, has the slightest impacton him. He keeps it because it keeps her happy.
So did the Charlotte Observer, a "newspaper" that has the funnies on the editorial page. Not intentionally, of course, but they can't help it.
Their slavish support of Jim Black (D-Speaker of NC House) finally dissolved when he confessed to taking bribes from chiropractors in restrooms.
Bottom line: McClatchy can keep losing money more or less forever, but their share price is going to take an ENORMOUS hit when and as the institutions start bailing. 2-year target, roughly $18.
They really screwed the pooch when they bought Knight-Ridder and picked up, along with it, another few billion in debt.
I'm surprised their bond rating is as high as BBB.
Yes, the Charlotte Disturber is a McClatchey entity and a daily Bush basher...on national issues they take their marching orders from the NYTimes and WashPost....local coverage consists of sucking up to the Bank of America and trying to ram down the public's throat every high ticket project that comes along, public opposition not with standing...I knew they were in financial trouble when I noticed the paper curling up as I read it....that's how thin the paper stock is...
Before being sold to McClatchy, it was wholly owned by the Daniels family in Raleigh. I wasn't sure if it been sold again since McClatchy bought it. I cancelled my subscription back in the mid 90s. Just couldn't take it any more.
The Bee papers used to have interesting articles... now they're just the organ for the California DNC.
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