Origins Ridder Publications Inc. In 1890,
Herman Ridder became trustee, treasurer and manager of
New Yorker Staats-Zeitung, a
German language newspaper. Ridder came to own the paper and died in 1915. He was succeeded by his eldest son
Bernard H. Ridder. B.H. Ridder and his two brothers,
Joseph E. Ridder and
Victor F. Ridder, bought rival German-language paper
New Yorker Herald in November 1919. Sixes years later the Ridder family began publishing
English language when they acquired the
Long Island Daily Press in December 1926, followed by
The Journal of Commerce and
New York Commercial for $2.85 million in January 1927. The Ridders purchased the
St. Paul Pioneer Press and
Saint Paul Dispatch in August 1927, acquired an interest in the
Aberdeen American News in August 1928, followed by the
Grand Forks Herald in June 1929, and bought a 40% stake in
The Seattle Times Company in January 1930. They sold the
Long Island Daily Press to
Samuel Irving Newhouse Sr. in 1932. Ridder acquired the
Duluth News Tribune in 1936, the
San Jose Mercury News in July 1952, the
Long Beach Press-Telegram in August 1952, sold the
New Yorker Staats-Zeitung in 1953, purchased the
Gary Post-Tribune in August 1966, and
Daily Camera in April 1969. In September 1969, company president Herman Henry "Hank" Ridder died. In November 1969, the company went public. At that time it was the eighth largest newspaper chain in the country in terms of circulation. In May 1973, Ridder acquired the
Wichita Eagle-Beacon for $40.5 million.
Knight Newspapers Inc. In October 1903,
Charles Landon Knight became a co-owner of the
Akron Beacon Journal and assumed full control in June 1909. He died in September 1933 and the paper was inherited by his eldest son
John S. Knight. Knight acquired the
Miami Herald in 1937,
Detroit Free Press in 1940, and
Chicago Daily News in 1944. Knight bought
The Charlotte Observer for $7 million in December 1954, the
Florida Keys Keynoter in 1956, and sold the
Daily News in January 1959. Knight bought
The Charlotte News in April 1959, followed by three Georgia papers in February 1969. That sale included
The Macon Telegraph. In March 1969, Knight went public, leaving the Knight family with about 59% of outstanding stock. John S. Knight and his brother James sold $30 million of their holdings in the company. In September 1969, Knight acquired the
Boca Raton News. In October 1969, Knight bought
The Philadelphia Inquirer and
Philadelphia Daily News for $55 million. The deal boosted Knight from the fifth to the third largest newspaper chain in the United States in terms of circulation. In August 1973, Knight acquired the
Lexington Herald-Leader. In September 1973, Knight purchased R.W. Page Corp. The sale included the
Columbus Ledger-Enquirer and
The Bradenton Herald.
Merger On July 11, 1974, Knight Newspapers and Ridder Publications agreed to merge. The newly formed group would own 35 newspapers with a combined daily circulation of 3.6 million. At the time
Gannett owned 54 papers with a combined daily circulation of 2.3 million. So the deal would make the combined Knight Ridder the second largest newspaper chain in the United States in terms of number of papers owned, and the largest in terms of circulation. The plan called for both partners to divest from radio and television. Stockholders approved the deal that November. Annual revenue for the newly combined firm was expected to be $550 million. The new name was Knight-Ridder Newspapers Inc. Lee Hills was elected board chairman and CEO.
Alvah Chapman Jr. was elected president. Bernard H. Ridder Jr. became vice chairman.
John S. Knight became editorial chairman as well as a board member.
Post-merger Knight Ridder acquired the
Centre Daily Times in August 1979, and the
Fort Wayne News-Sentinel in February 1980. Knight Ridder became the first newspaper publisher to experiment with
videotex when it launched its
Viewtron system in 1983. After investing six years of research and $50 million into the service, Knight Ridder shut down Viewtron in 1986 when the service's interactivity features proved more popular than news delivery. In December 1986, Knight Ridder purchased The State-Record Company for $311 million. The sale included six dailies and two weeklies:
The State of Columbia,
The Columbia Record,
Myrtle Beach Sun News,
Biloxi Sun-Herald,
Daily Times Leader of West Point, and
Starkville Daily News. In August 1988, Knight Ridder purchased Dialog Information Services Inc. from
Lockheed Corporation. In October 1988, the company placed its eight broadcast television stations up for sale to reduce debt and to pay for the purchase of Dialog. In February 1995, Knight Ridder sold
The Journal of Commerce to
The Economist Group for $115 million. In August 1995, Knight Ridder bought
Lesher Communications, publisher of the
Contra Costa Times, for $360 million. In April 1997, Knight Ridder bought
The Kansas City Star,
Fort Worth Star-Telegram,
Belleville News-Democrat and
Wilkes-Barre Times Leader for $1.65 billion from
The Walt Disney Company, who recently acquired them from
Capital Cities Communications. In July 1997, Knight Ridder traded the
Boulder Daily Camera to
E. W. Scripps Company in exchange for
The Monterey County Herald and
San Luis Obispo Tribune. In October 1997, Knight Ridder sold the
Boca Raton News to
Community Newspaper Holdings. In November 1997, Knight Ridder sold the
Long Beach Press-Telegram to Garden State Newspapers Inc., an affiliate
MediaNews Group. In April 1998, Knight Ridder announced it will relocate its headquarters from Miami, Florida to San Jose, California. The goal was to change its public image from a traditional newspaper company to a high-technology information provider. In February 1998, the company sold the
Gary Post-Tribune to
Hollinger International, Inc. In April 2000, Knight Ridder purchased
The Olathe News.
Iraq War coverage In the run-up to the
2003 invasion of Iraq, Knight Ridder DC Bureau reporters Jonathan Landay and Warren Strobel wrote a series of articles critical of intelligence suggesting links between
Saddam Hussein, the obtainment of
weapons of mass destruction, and
Al-Qaeda, citing anonymous sources. Landay and Strobel's stories ran counter to reports by
The New York Times,
The Washington Post and other national publications, resulting in some newspapers within the Knight-Ridder chain refusing to run the two reporters' stories, with some choosing to substitute coverage from
The Times. After the war and the discrediting of many initial news reports written and carried by others, Strobel and Landay received the
Raymond Clapper Memorial Award from the Senate Press Gallery in 2004, for their coverage. The
Huffington Post headlined the two as "the reporting team that got Iraq right". The
Columbia Journalism Review described the reporting as "unequaled by the Bigfoots working at higher-visibility outlets such as the
New York Times, the
Washington Post, the
Wall Street Journal and the
Los Angeles Times". Later after the war, their work was featured in
Bill Moyers' PBS documentary "Buying The War" and was dramatized in
Rob Reiner's 2017 film
Shock and Awe.
Purchase by McClatchy In February 2005, Knight Ridder purchased the
Palo Alto Daily News and its four sibling publications. In August 2005, Knight Ridder sold the
Detroit Free Press and
Tallahassee Democrat to
Gannett. In return, the company acquired the
Idaho Statesman,
The Bellingham Herald and
The Olympian. In November 2005, the Knight Ridder announced plans for "strategic initiatives," which involved the possible sale of the company. This came after three major institutional shareholders publicly urged management to put the company up for sale. At the time, the company had a higher
profit margin than many Fortune 500 companies, including
ExxonMobil. On March 13, 2006,
The McClatchy Company announced its agreement to purchase Knight Ridder for a purchase price of $6.5 billion in cash, stock and debt. The deal gave McClatchy 32 daily newspapers in 29 markets, with a total circulation of 3.3 million. However, for various reasons, McClatchy decided immediately to resell twelve of these papers. The accumulative sale price $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, and
Aberdeen American News went to
Schurz Communications. Finally, the
Wilkes-Barre Times Leader was sold to private investors in June 2006. ==List of newspapers==