McClatchy Newspapers has set tomorrow as the deadline for receiving bids for the two Philadelphia newspapers it did not want as part of its takeover of Knight Ridder. Sarah Ellison of the Wall Street Journal reports that six potential buyers have shown an interest in acquiring the Philadelphia Inquirer and the tabloid Philadelphia News.
Of the 12 orphans, the News-Sentinel is the only one that has had no reported or rumored buyer interest.
There were 11 Knight Ridder newspapers that McClatchy said did not fit into the profile it wanted for newspapers in high growth markets. The St. Paul Pioneer Press, the twelfth newspaper, had to be divested for anti-trust reasons.
Last month, McClatchy agreed to sell four of the twelve -- three California papers and the St. Paul Pioneer Press to MediaNews Group.
An agreement for sale of the Philly papers would take the orphan list down to just six newspapers.
Those newspapers are the Fort Wayne News-Sentinel, The Akron Beacon Journal, the Duluth News Tribune, the Grand Forks (N.D.) Herald, the Aberdeen (S.D.) American News, and the Wilkes-Barre Times Leader.
The Times Leader may be purchased by Times Shamrock, owner of the Times Leader's hometown rival, the Citizen's Voice. The most likely fate is that the Times Leader would then be shuttered.
It was recently reported that representatives of the Canadian firm Black Press Ltd., owner of the Honolulu Star-Bulletin as well as numerous Canadiana newspapers, has toured the Akron Beacon Journal offices in recent weeks.
Last Friday, representatives of the Fargo-based Forum Communications toured the offices of the Grand Forks Herald. Forum had already announced interest in acquiring the Herald, Aberdeen's American News and the Duluth News Tribune.
Photo credit: Dawn E. Wilson
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