Knight Ridder, Inc., owner of 31 daily newspapers, is still up for grabs. Reporters from the St. Paul Pioneer Press, one of those newspapers, had the unenviable task of reporting on the uncertain fate of their own paper. According to their article, Pioneer Press' future in limbo with bid from crosstown rival's owner, McClatchy Co. could end up buying the Pioneer Press. The problem? McClatchy owns the Minneapolis-based Star Tribune--a paper that competes directly against Pioneer Press.
Quite a bit of speculation accompanied the news of McCatchy's emergence as a front-runner for Knight Ridder. Most assume that the Justice Department, which historically has had the jurisdiction to investigate newspaper mergers, would challenge a merger of the two companies unless they agreed to the divestiture of newspapers that directly compete. Would McCatchy fight to keep both the Pioneer Press and the Star Tribune or the other overlapping assets? Unlikely, say some.
I say, let the fight begin. However, I doubt Knight Ridder's board of directors, which will be considering the various bids tomorrow, would agree with me.
