Founding On February 3, 1857,
The Daily Bee was first published in Sacramento, California. A few months later
James McClatchy succeeded
Rollin Ridge as the paper's editor. McClatchy became a co-owner on February 12, 1866, and majority stock owner on June 26, 1872. At that time the firm's name was changed to McClatchy & Co. His son
Charles K. McClatchy soon joined his father as junior partner, and succeeded him upon his death in 1883. The company founded
The Fresno Bee in 1922. Brother
Valentine S. McClatchy was a company co-owner, but sold out in 1923. C.K. McClatchy bought the
Sacramento Star from
Scripps-Howard Newspapers and absorbed it into
The Bee in February 1925. He also launched a Modesto edition of
The Fresno Bee called the
Modesto Bee in June 1925. The paper ceased after two weeks due to lack of subscriptions. In August 1927, McClatchy bought the
News-Herald, and five years later it was renamed to
The Modesto Bee. In 1933, McClatchy's son
Carlos K. McClatchy, who was expected to eventually take over for his father, died of
Influenza. At that time McClatchy's youngest daughter
Eleanor McClatchy joined the business to be trained as his successor. In 1935, the
Sacramento Bee won its first
Pulitzer Prize. In 1936, C.K. McClatchy died. In 1938, V.S. McClatchy died. In 1978, Eleanor McClatchy retired. She died two years later. Under him, the company acquired the
Anchorage Daily News in January 1979, sold
KOVR to
The Outlet Company for $65 million, then purchased the
Tri-City Herald in October 1979, followed by the
Tacoma News Tribune and
Pierce County Herald in 1986. The company went public to reduce debt in 1988, but the McClatchy family maintained 99% voting control of the corporation. C. K. McClatchy II died suddenly of a heart attack while out jogging in April 1989. In September 1989, McClatchy acquired three dailies in South Carolina from The News & Observer Company for $74.1 million. The sale included
The Herald of Rock Hill,
The Island Packet of Hilton Head, and
The Beaufort Gazette of Beaufort. In August 1992, the
Ellensburg Daily Record was acquired. In May 1995, McClatchy bought the rest of N&O Co., including
The News & Observer of Raleigh, North Carolina, for $373 million. In June 1995, the
Peninsula Gateway was purchased. In October 1996, the
Daily Record was sold to
Pioneer News Group. In November 1997, McClatchy agreed to purchase the
Cowles Media Company for $1.4 billion. The sale was completed in March 1998. McClatchy kept the
Minneapolis Star Tribune, and sold off two magazine and book publishing businesses owned by Cowles Media to
PRIMEDIA for $200 million. In December 2003, McClatchy bought six newspapers in the
San Joaquin Valley from Pacific-Sierra Publishing. The sale included the daily
Merced Sun-Star and five non-dalies:
Sierra Star of Oakhurst,
Los Banos Enterprise,
Chowchilla News,
Atwater Signal and
Livingston Chronicle.
Knight Ridder sale In 2006, McClatchy purchased
Knight Ridder for $4.5 billion and assumed $2 billion in debt. Due to the size difference, one observer equated the deal to "a dolphin swallowing a small whale." At that time Knight Ridder was the country's second largest newspaper chain and owned 32 dallies while McClatchy only owned 12 dallies. Due to
antitrust concerns from the
United States Department of Justice, McClatchy agreed to sell 12 former Knight Ridder papers for $2.078 billion. The
San Jose Mercury and
Contra Costa Times went to
Bay Area News Group, co-owned by
MediaNews. The
St. Paul Pioneer Press and
The Monterey County Herald went to
Hearst Communications, who agreed to later resell them to
MediaNews.
The Philadelphia Inquirer and
Philadelphia Daily News went to
Philadelphia Media Holdings. The
Akron Beacon Journal went to
Black Press Media,
The News-Sentinel went to
Ogden Newspapers, the
Duluth News Tribune went to
Forum Communications Company,
Aberdeen American News went to
Schurz Communications. The
Wilkes-Barre Times Leader was sold to private investors. The Knight Ridder sale left McClatchy with a 15% stake in
CareerBuilder, a 15% stake in
ShopLocal and a 11.5% stake in
Topix.net.
Bankruptcy Amid the
Great Recession, McClatchy cut its workforce by 10% in 2008. Pruitt left the company in 2012 and was succeeded as CEO by
Patrick Talamantes. In January 2017,
Craig Forman was appointed as the new president and
chief executive officer. In February 2019, Forman emailed all staff to say about 10% of the newspaper chain's employees would be offered voluntary buyouts. On February 13, 2020, The McClatchy Company and 54 affiliated companies filed for
Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the
United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. The company cited pension obligations and excessive debt as the primary reasons for the filing. The debt obtained from the Knight Ridder acquisition and the decision not to retain any of Knight Ridder's digital division or corporate staff, despite the growing prominence of the
Internet and Knight Ridder having a well-respected effort in the space at the time, were cited as contributing factors in the bankruptcy. In August 2020, the Court approved an offer by Chatham Asset Management—a
hedge fund that also owns a 66% share in Canadian publisher
Postmedia—to acquire McClatchy for $312 million. The company stated that it would not impose any layoffs, and would honor all existing union agreements. Tony W. Hunter was named CEO.
Consolidation In August 2022, McClatchy sold the
Los Banos Enterprise. On July 11, 2023, McClatchy laid off the editorial cartoonists of three of its newspapers,
Kevin Siers at
The Charlotte Observer,
Jack Ohman at
The Sacramento Bee, and
Joel Pett at the
Lexington Herald-Leader. In November 2023, McClatchy sold its
Charlotte printing plant to
North State Media for $4.65 million. In March 2024, the company dropped its
Associated Press wire service. In December 2024, Chatham Asset Management-owned magazine publisher
a360media (the former American Media, Inc.) was merged into McClatchy, with the company renamed McClatchy Media, and a360media's assets forming the basis of the new McClatchy Lifestyle & Entertainment division. In May 2025, the company announced that
Closer, First for Women, In Touch, and
Life & Style would cease publication, with their staff laid off. In November 2025, the company closed its Washington, D.C. bureau. ==Business ventures==