Knight Ridder Shareholders Approve Sale to McClatchy
Knight Ridder’s shareholders on Monday voted to sell the company to Sacramento-based McClatchy, ending the 32-year run of one of America’s premier newspaper companies, the San Jose Mercury-News reports. The votes were tallied at the company’s annual meeting at San Jose’s Fairmont Hotel, a few steps from the company’s soon-to-be vacated headquarters. Eighty percent of shareholders needed to approve the deal, and the company said preliminary tallies have overcome that bar. The value of the deal, originally $4.5 billion in cash and stock, has fallen about 9 percent — roughly $400 million — since it was announced on March 13, after a sharp drop in McClatchy’s stock, which was at another 52-week low this morning. McClatchy and Knight Ridder executives hope to sign off on final merger documents by 4 p.m. Tuesday. The dismantling of Knight Ridder will result in McClatchy absorbing 20 of Knight Ridder’s 32 newspapers. McClatchy plans to sell 12, including the Mercury News, Contra Costa Times and Monterey County Herald. All three have a buyer lined up in Denver-based MediaNews.
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Tribune Stock Buyback Appears Likely to Reach Target
Tribune Co. is likely to succeed today in its effort to buy back as much as 25 percent of its stock, gaining an interim victory over boardroom critics who recently called for a breakup of the Chicago-based owner of the Los Angeles Times, KTLA-TV Channel 5, the Chicago Tribune, the Chicago Cubs baseball team and other properties, the Los Angeles Times reports. Yet the dissident Chandler family of California, Tribune’s second-largest shareholder, is not expected to give up its fight. The Chandlers, who used their three seats on the 11-member Tribune board to vote against the buyback, have publicly criticized the company’s management in recent weeks. They attracted little public support for their campaign, but if the buyback goes through, the Chandlers will become the company’s largest single stockholder. And some investors predict that, with Tribune’s tender offer expiring tonight, the family will begin sitting down with big shareholders in an attempt to form alliances that could reinvigorate the fight over Tribune’s turnaround strategy.
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Eisner to Sell Tykes on College Sports
Former Walt Disney Co. Chief Executive Michael Eisner knows a thing or two about captivating children with cartoon characters. Now he is hoping to hook kids on college sports , even before they walk or talk, the Los Angeles Times reports. Eisner’s new entertainment business, Tornante Co., plans to announce today the purchase of Team Baby Entertainment, a start-up company that makes college-sports booster videos aimed at children ages 6 months to 5 years. The 30-minute videos, each featuring a different university, shows children in football jerseys and cheerleading outfits running, dancing and playing to the school’s fight song. Among the 20 produced so far, there is “Baby Irish” for Notre Dame, “Baby Aggie” for Texas A & M; and “Baby Cowboy” for Oklahoma State. Although there are scores of child-friendly educational videos, such as the “Baby Einstein” series and “Sesame Street,” apparently not much was available for parents eager to get their kids excited about their alma maters. The terms of the deal were not disclosed, but Eisner holds full ownership and Scheinman will remain CEO.
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Sea Launch Has Many Missions on Its Plate
Sea Launch Co. LLC may not be in the mix when it comes to NASA’s latest space ventures, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t have plenty to do, the Long Beach Press Telegram reports. Sea Launch, because of its unique multi-national partnership that includes Russia, is prevented from acquiring government contracts like NASA’s soon-to-be-awarded one to private companies to ferry cargo and personnel to the International Space Station. But the firm has more than enough to do in its primary business launching heavy commercial satellites into orbit for communications companies. So far in 2006, Sea Launch has had three successful deployments from its floating launch platform that journeys to the equator from its Long Beach home base to lift the satellites into orbit. There are three more commercial satellites set for launch the rest of this year. Sea Launch’s manifest is also full for 2007, with six missions, and is beginning to fill up for 2008, said Paula Korn, a spokeswoman with Sea Launch.
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