Okay, this is inside baseball for those of you outside the journalism business … and really basic for those of you in it. But after putting itself up for sale, Knight Ridder — the publisher of the Philly Inquirer, the Miami Herald and the San Jose Mercury News — has agreed to sell itself to McClatchy Co. for $4.5 billion, the NYT is reporting.
This is great news for the newspaper biz, because the $4.5 billion price is a a 25% premium on its shares. Basically, it’s a sign of continued confidence in the future of the newspaper industry. (A low bid would have been disastrous).
Also: as journalism professor Judy Bloch put it to the Star Tribune on Friday: “I’m rooting for McClatchy because it’s practically the last [newspaper] chain that doesn’t strike dread and disgust in my heart.”
Sacramento-based McClatchy publishes the Sacramento Bee, the Minneapolis Star Tribune and 10 other dailis.
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