ap Inc. on Wednesday closed its $736.8 million acquisition of the San Jose Mercury News and the Contra Costa Times from McClatchy Co., a deal that gives the Denver-based company a dominant position in the San Francisco Bay Area market.
MediaNews, which owns The Denver Post, now owns and operates more than 200 newspapers throughout the U.S.
George Riggs, who will retain his posts as president and publisher of the Mercury News, will head all of MediaNews’ operations in northern California, where the company has more than 800,000 daily subscribers. The company counts 1.4 million subscribers statewide, making MediaNews California’s largest newspaper publisher.
“To see the finishing touches put in place is very fulfilling,” said William Dean Singleton, chief executive and vice chairman of MediaNews. “To put all these newspapers together on one platform is something we’ve dreamt about for years.”
MediaNews is considering a variety of strategies for the market that could include a Bay Area-wide Internet platform with search functions, Singleton said.
McClatchy, based in Sacramento, Calif., acquired the Mercury News and the Contra Costa Times in March when it purchased Knight Ridder Inc., which put itself up for sale under pressure from shareholders.
McClatchy has now sold 12 of 32 papers it acquired when it bought Knight Ridder.
MediaNews’ acquisition, first announced in April, includes the Mercury News, the Contra Costa Times and more than 30 other daily, weekly or twice-weekly publications.
In addition, MediaNews will begin operating the St. Paul (Minn.) Pioneer Press and the Monterey (Calif.) County Herald, purchased from McClatchy by New York-based Hearst Corp. for $263.2 million.
Hearst intends to trade those two papers to MediaNews for a stake in MediaNews’ assets outside the San Francisco Bay Area market, where Hearst owns the San Francisco Chronicle.
The arrangement between MediaNews and Hearst must still be reviewed by federal regulators.
The U.S. Department of Justice earlier this week approved MediaNews’ transaction with McClatchy, clearing the way for the deal’s closing.
In northern California, Media News already publishes the Oakland Tribune, the Hayward Daily Review, the San Mateo County Times, the Marin Independent Journal, the Tri-Valley Herald and the Fremont Argus.
Jody Lodovic, president of MediaNews, said planning meetings have begun. He said changes at the papers won’t show up for at least several months.
Lodovic noted that editorial staff at some papers will likely be shifted around. For instance, if two reporters at nearby papers are covering professional baseball, one reporter could be reassigned to write about high school sports.
He said many of those decisions will be made by current management, with guidance provided by MediaNews executives.
Staff writer Will Shanley can be reached at 303-820-1260 or wshanley@denverpost.com.
