Industry News

Distinctly Montana Magazine

Distinctly Montana Magazine has been sold by founder Michael Blevins to Bill Muhlenfeld and Anthea George of Bozeman, Montana, according to John Cribb, Cribb, Greene & Associates, who represented the seller in the transaction.

Distinctly Montana Magazine is a high quality glossy product published quarterly and distributed throughout Montana and most of the nation. The magazine, founded in 2001, is a resource guide for all things Montana and includes local features, literary pieces, and high quality art and photography. Included in the sale is the magazine website at distinctlymontana.com.

According to Anthea George, "Distinctly Montana is a quality publication with a great concept and a focused mission. We look forward as new owners to bringing the best of Montana to residents and visitors alike."

Cribb, Greene & Associates is an eighty-seven year old publishing company merger and acquisition firm with offices in Bozeman, Montana and Charlottesville, Virginia.

MediaNews To Pay For Most Of McClatchy Deal

Joseph Menn, LA Times Staff Writer

May 02, 2006

William Dean Singleton's MediaNews Group Inc. is putting up most of the $1 billion that it and Hearst Corp. are spending to buy four newspapers from McClatchy Co., regulatory filings showed Monday.

Denver-based MediaNews is paying $737 million to McClatchy for the San Jose Mercury News and the Contra Costa Times, according to a copy of last week's agreement made public Monday.

Hearst will spend $263 million for the Monterey County Herald and the St. Paul Pioneer Press in Minnesota. All four papers are now owned by Knight Ridder Inc., and Sacramento-based McClatchy is selling those and other publications as it buys Knight Ridder.

As previously reported, Hearst plans to trade its two papers to MediaNews for 20% to 30% of MediaNews' publications outside the Bay Area.

MediaNews will end up with 11 daily papers surrounding San Francisco and a financial alliance with Hearst, which owns Singleton's largest remaining Bay Area competitor, the San Francisco Chronicle.

MediaNews, which will become the fourth-largest U.S. chain by circulation after the deal is completed, is privately held, mostly by the families of Singleton — the chief executive — and the company's chairman, Richard Scudder.

Monday's filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission indicates that MediaNews' holdings outside the Bay Area are worth more than $1 billion. The Bay Area papers would push the company's value to about $2 billion, based on the purchase price for the Mercury News and Contra Costa Times.

McClatchy's shares have stumbled since it agreed to purchase Knight Ridder, giving the company a market value of $2.1 billion at Monday's closing price of $45.36. However, when the shares the company intends to issue as part of the $4-billion-plus purchase are included, its value would be about $3.7 billion.

The SEC filing also said that MediaNews and Hearst would keep the nonunion employees at the four papers, paying them what similar workers in the area earn. A renowned cost cutter, Singleton has said he intends to keep the management teams intact and generally leave salaries and benefits as they are, at least in the near term.

MediaNews and Hearst will also inherit the papers' union contracts. San Jose's expires just before the deal's expected closing in July. But Luther Jackson, an official with the San Jose Newspaper Guild, said an "evergreen clause" would automatically extend the terms of that contract as long as the union and the company were negotiating.

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