The McClatchy Company

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The McClatchy Company
Type of Company Public
Founded February 3, 1857
Headquarters Sacramento, CA
Key people James McClatchy, founder of the Sacramento Bee
Industry Newspaper publishing
Website The McClatchy Company

The McClatchy Company NYSE: MNI is an American publishing company based in Sacramento, California, that operates a number of newspapers and websites.

Contents

[edit] History

The company originated in The Sacramento Bee, which was first published on February 3, 1857, after the California Gold Rush. James McClatchy took over as editor of the Bee within a week. Having purchased Knight Ridder, the United States' second-largest newspaper company (see below) (Gannett Company is the largest), McClatchy operates 32 daily newspapers in 29 markets, with a total circulation of 3.3 million. [1] In addition, McClatchy operates a number of community papers that are printed with less frequency. The Minneapolis-St. Paul's Star Tribune, acquired in 1998, has the highest circulation of all McClatchy newspapers.

The company has two classes of stock, allowing the founding McClatchy family to retain control. In the Knight Ridder purchase, for example, McClatchy shareholders didn't need to act at all in approving the purchase because the family had already voted their shares in favor.

Most of the company's history has been in newspapers of the Golden State's Sacramento Valley and San Joaquin Valley. It acquired its first out-of-state newspapers in 1979 and through acquisitions has grown into a nationwide company.

In its first moves outside its home state, McClatchy bought the Anchorage Daily News in Anchorage, Alaska, and the Tri-City Herald in Kennewick, Washington in 1979.

In 1990, McClatchy acquired three dailies in South Carolina: The Herald in Rock Hill, The Island Packet in Hilton Head, and The Beaufort Gazette of Beaufort.

In 1995, it acquired The News & Observer of Raleigh, North Carolina.

In 1998, it bought the Star Tribune of Minneapolis.

In January 2004, McClatchy bought the Merced Sun-Star of Merced, and five affiliated non-dailies in California's San Joaquin Valley.

McClatchy purchased Knight Ridder, formerly the United States' second-largest chain of daily newspapers, on June 27, 2006. The purchase price of $40 per share and 0.5118 shares of McClatchy Class A stock is valued at about $4 billion in cash and stock and assumption of $2 billion in debt. This purchase added 20 papers to be retained with immediate sale of 12 publications, including the San Jose Mercury News and The Philadelphia Inquirer. Those sales were completed on Aug. 2, 2006. Editor and Publisher reported in October 2006 that McClatch revenue ending August 2006 was down over one percent from August 2005.

McClatchy has an Internet subsidiary, McClatchy Interactive (formerly known as Nando Media), which provides business support and material for Internet media nationwide (part of the News & Observer purchase). Other operations include Newsprint Ventures Inc., a consortium that operates the Ponderay newsprint mill near Spokane, Washington. As of 2004, the company has about 9,300 employees.

[edit] Dailies

[edit] Dailies acquired in Knight Ridder purchase and sold

[edit] References

  • Seelye, Katherine, and Andrew Ross Sorkin (March 12, 2006). Knight Ridder Newspaper Chain Agrees to Sale. New York Times

[edit] External links