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Gannett, McClatchy and Tribune Reach Ownership Agreement on
CareerBuilder, ShopLocal.com and Topix.net
Gannett,
Tribune Increase Stakes in CareerBuilder To 42.5%
McClatchy Retains 15%
Stake
McClatchy Affiliates
Newspapers with CareerBuilder, ShopLocal.com and Topix.net
CHICAGO, August
1, 2006 -- Gannett Co., Inc.
(NYSE: GCI), The McClatchy Company (NYSE: MNI), and Tribune
Company (NYSE: TRB), today announced an agreement concerning
their ownership stakes in CareerBuilder.com, the nation’s
largest online classified recruitment site, and two other
online businesses, ShopLocal.com and Topix.net. Under the
agreement, Gannett and Tribune will increase each of their
equity stakes in CareerBuilder and ShopLocal.com to 42.5%,
and in Topix.net to 31.9%.
McClatchy will receive a total of approximately
$310 million in the transaction and will retain a 15% stake
in CareerBuilder and ShopLocal.com, and an 11.25% stake
in Topix.net. McClatchy’s
newspapers will become affiliated with each online business.
THE TRANSACTION
The agreement values CareerBuilder at $1.55 billion, ShopLocal.com
at $85 million and Topix.net at $72 million. McClatchy acquired
its ownership position in all three Internet companies following
the completion of its purchase of Knight Ridder on June 27.
Knight Ridder, Gannett and Tribune had previously been equal
partners in CareerBuilder. To increase their equity stake
in CareerBuilder, Gannett and Tribune will each pay McClatchy
approximately $142 million. They will each pay $13 million
to increase their equity in ShopLocal.com and Topix.net.
McClatchy will elect one member of CareerBuilder’s
six-member board of directors. The board will be composed
of two directors chosen by Gannett, two by Tribune, one by
McClatchy, and CareerBuilder’s chief executive officer,
Matt Ferguson.
"As a founding partner of CareerBuilder, Tribune is
pleased to have McClatchy join as an important partner in
these online ventures," said Dennis FitzSimons, Tribune
chairman, president and chief executive officer. "Increasing
our ownership position in CareerBuilder, ShopLocal.com and
Topix.net is consistent with our Internet growth strategy.
With great partners like Gannett, and now McClatchy, the
national network/local affiliate model is working very well
for us. We’ll continue using this successful approach
as we look to further expand Tribune’s Internet portfolio."
"We are pleased to expand our ownership
position in each of these companies and form an alliance
with McClatchy," said
Craig A. Dubow, Gannett chairman, president and chief executive
officer. "Maintaining a strong coalition of newspaper
partners is critical to strengthening the newspaper industry
in a changing environment. With committed owners and a powerful
network of affiliated newspapers serving more than 200 local
markets, CareerBuilder will be stronger than ever."
"This agreement is a winning deal for
McClatchy, CareerBuilder, and our other online partners,
Gannett and Tribune," said
Gary Pruitt, chairman and chief executive officer of McClatchy.
"McClatchy receives fair value for our share of these assets,
while retaining a sizable enough equity position to expand
our footprint online. Our preference has always been to continue
participating in CareerBuilder as a partner with our industry
colleagues."
EXPANDING NEWSPAPER PARTNERSHIPS
Twenty of the newspapers McClatchy acquired
from Knight Ridder were already affiliated with CareerBuilder,
ShopLocal, and Topix.net, and will continue to be so. McClatchy’s
12 existing newspapers will now join the recruitment website
and the other newly acquired digital platforms, establishing
CareerBuilder partnerships in new markets, like Sacramento
and Raleigh, with more than 3.7 million people.
"Our newspaper partners are an important
contributor to the growth of CareerBuilder," said Matt
Ferguson, CareerBuilder’s president and chief executive
officer. "The
addition of the McClatchy newspapers combined with those
of our existing partners, Gannett and Tribune, will make
our network stronger and even more competitive."
For the last two years, CareerBuilder has led the industry
in job postings and traffic. This year it also became the
leader in U.S. revenue, passing its largest competitor for
the first time.
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About Gannett
Gannett Co., Inc. (NYSE: GCI) is a leading international
news and information company that publishes 90 daily newspapers
in the USA, including USA TODAY, the nation's largest-selling
daily newspaper. The company also owns nearly 1,000 non-daily
publications in the USA and USA WEEKEND, a weekly newspaper
magazine. Gannett subsidiary Newsquest is the United Kingdom’s
second largest regional newspaper company. Newsquest publishes
more than 300 titles, including 17 daily newspapers, and
a network of prize-winning Web sites. Gannett operates
22 television stations in the United States and is an Internet
leader with sites sponsored by its TV stations and newspapers
including USATODAY.com, one of the most popular news sites
on the Web.
Media Contact for Gannett:
Tara Connell
VP/Corporate Communications
703/854-6049
Investor Contact:
Jeff Heinz
Director/Investor Relations
703/854-6917
About McClatchy
The McClatchy Company (NYSE: MNI) is the second-largest newspaper
company in the United States, with 32 daily newspapers
and approximately 50 non-dailies. McClatchy-owned newspapers
include the (Minneapolis) Star Tribune, the Miami Herald,
The Sacramento Bee, the Fort Worth Star- Telegram, the
Kansas City Star, the Charlotte Observer, and The (Raleigh)
News & Observer. In addition, McClatchy has a robust
network of valuable internet assets, including leading
local websites in each of its daily newspaper markets,
offering readers information, comprehensive news, advertising,
e-commerce and other services. The company also owns and
operates McClatchy Interactive, an interactive operation
that provides websites with content, publishing tools and
software development; Real Cities (http://www.RealCities.com),
the largest national network of city and regional web sites,
operating in more than 110 U.S. markets, and is part owner
of CareerBuilder, the nation’s largest online classified
employment listing service. McClatchy also owns 25 percent
of Classified Ventures, a newspaper industry partnership
that includes such online classified web sites as cars.com
and apartments.com.
Media Contact for The McClatchy Company:
Cindy Leggett-Flynn and Christina Stenson
Brunswick Group
212/333-3810
Investor Contact:
Pat
Talamantes
Chief Financial Officer
916/321-1834
About Tribune
Tribune Company (NYSE: TRB) is one of the country's top media
companies, operating businesses in publishing and broadcasting.
It reaches more than 80 percent of U.S. households and
is the only media organization with newspapers, television
stations and websites in the nation's top three markets.
In publishing, Tribune operates 11 leading daily newspapers
including the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune and Newsday,
plus a wide range of targeted publications. The company's
broadcasting group operates 26 television stations, Superstation
WGN on national cable, Chicago's WGN-AM and the Chicago
Cubs baseball team. Popular news and information websites
complement Tribune's print and broadcast properties and
extend the company's nationwide audience.
About CareerBuilder.com
CareerBuilder.com is the nation's largest online job site
with more than 23 million unique visitors and over 1.5
million jobs. Owned by Gannett Co., Inc. (NYSE:GCI), Tribune
Company (NYSE:TRB), and The McClatchy Company (NYSE:MNI),
the company offers a vast online and print network to help
job seekers connect with employers. CareerBuilder.com powers
the career centers for more than 900 partners that reach
national, local, industry and niche audiences. These include
more than 150 newspapers and leading portals such as America
Online and MSN. More than 250,000 employers take advantage
of CareerBuilder.com's easy job postings, 18 million-plus
resumes, Diversity Channel and more. Millions of job seekers
visit the site every month to search for opportunities
by industry, location, company and job type, sign up for
automatic email job alerts, and get advice on job hunting
and career management. For more information about CareerBuilder.com
products and services, visit www.careerbuilder.com.
About ShopLocal.com
ShopLocal, LLC offers the Web's most comprehensive multi-channel
shopping resource for consumers and sales opportunities site
for retailers. With ShopLocal.com and The ShopLocal Network
- made up of more than 200 affiliate media, search and shopping
sites - consumers have access to the only Web site with information
on products from local stores side-by-side with e-commerce
options. With ShopLocal's SmartCircular, SmartCatalog and
SmartMedia services, retailers can distribute sales and promotional
content on the site as well as through their own Web sites,
integrating both e-commerce and local, in-store promotions.
Gannett Co., Inc. (NYSE:GCI), Tribune
Company (NYSE:TRB), and The McClatchy Company. (NYSE:MNI),
are partners in ShopLocal and other joint ventures to provide
consumers online products such as CareerBuilder.com, Cars.com
and Apartments.com.
About Topix.net
Founded in 2002 with the specific mission of providing users
with the ability to quickly and easily find targeted news
on the Internet, Topix.net is a news aggregator with unique
technology to find and categorize news into 360,000 topics,
from Autos to ZIP code level local news. Topix.net distributes
content via partnerships with top tier web properties including
AOL, Earthlink, Ask, My Yahoo, Infospace and thousands
of others. |
