Early history The newspaper now known as the
Mercury News began in 1851 or 1852. California legislators had just moved the state capital from San Jose to
Vallejo, leading to the failure of San Jose's first two newspapers, the
Argus and
State Journal. A group of three businessmen led by John C. Emerson bought the papers' presses to found the
San Jose Weekly Visitor. W. A. Slocum assumed control of the
Telegraph in 1860 and merged it with the
San Jose Mercury or
Weekly Mercury to become the
Telegraph and Mercury. William N. Slocum soon dropped
Telegraph from the name. By this point, the
Mercury was one of two newspapers publishing in San Jose. and again from March 11, 1872, after the purchase of the
Daily Guide. The
Mercury merged with the Times Publishing Company, which was owned by
Charles M. Shortridge, in 1884. The
Daily Morning Times and
Daily Mercury briefly became the
Times-Mercury, while the
Weekly Times and
Weekly Mercury briefly become the
Times-Weekly Mercury. In 1885, both publications adopted the
San Jose Mercury name. That year, Owen sold his interest in the paper and moved to San Francisco. In 1913, the two papers were consolidated into a single morning paper, the
San Jose Mercury Herald. In 1942, the Mercury Herald Company purchased the
San Jose News (which was founded in 1851) but continued to publish both papers, the
Mercury Herald in the morning and the
News in the evening, with a combined Sunday edition called the
Mercury Herald News.
Ridder ownership Herman Ridder's Northwest Publications (later Ridder Publications) purchased the
Mercury and
News in 1952. During the mid 20th century, the papers took largely conservative, pro-growth positions. Publisher Joe Ridder was a vocal proponent of San Jose City Manager
A. P. Hamann's development agenda, which emphasized
urban sprawl within an ever-expanding city limits. Ridder counted on increasing population to lead to increased newspaper subscriptions and advertising sales. The paper supported a series of
general obligation bonds worth $ (equivalent to $ in ), most of it spent on capital improvements that benefited real estate developers. It also supported a revision to the city charter that introduced a
direct mayoral elections and abolished the
vote of confidence for city manager. By 1967, the
Mercury had risen to rank among the top six largest morning newspapers in the country by circulation, boosted by unabated growth into the suburbs, while the
News ran the most advertising of any evening newspaper in the country.
Knight Ridder ownership In 1974, Ridder merged with Knight Newspapers to form
Knight Ridder. Joe Ridder was forced to retire in 1977. His nephew, P. Anthony "Tony" Ridder, succeeded him as publisher. Tony Ridder placed an emphasis on improving the papers' reportage, to better reflect Knight's reputation for investigative journalism. The afternoon edition was discontinued in 1995, leaving only the morning edition. hiring Vietnamese-speaking reporters for the first time. A
foreign correspondent stationed at the
Hanoi bureau held an annual
town hall meeting with the Vietnamese-American community in San Jose. Initially, community members staged protests accusing the paper of siding with the Communist government in Vietnam by opening the bureau. The
Mercury News launched the free, Spanish-language weekly (New World) in 1996 and the free, Vietnamese-language weekly
Viet Mercury in 1999.
Viet Mercury was the first Vietnamese-language newspaper published by an English-language daily.
Growth alongside the technology industry The
Mercury News benefited from its status as the major daily newspaper in
Silicon Valley during the
dot-com bubble. It led the news industry in business coverage of the valley's high-tech industry, attracting readers from around the world.
Time called the
Mercury News the most technologically savvy newspaper in the country. The
Mercury News was one of the first daily newspapers in the United States to have an online presence, and was the first to deliver full content and breaking news online. It launched a service called Mercury Center on
America Online in 1993, followed by the country's first news website in 1995 (see ). Mercury Center shut down its AOL service in July 1996, leaving only the website. At its peak in 2001, the
Mercury News had 400 employees in its newsroom, 15 bureaus, $288 million in annual revenue, and profit margins above 30%. In 1998, Knight Ridder moved its headquarters from
Miami to the
Knight-Ridder Building in San Jose, which was seen as an acknowledgment of the central role that online news would play in the company's future. Mercury Center ended its paywall in May 1998, after posting 1.2 million monthly unique visitors the previous year. By 2000, the paper had a Sunday circulation of 327,000 and $341 million in annual revenue, $118 million of it from job listings. Although approval by regulators and completion of MediaNews' acquisition was announced on August 2, 2006, a lawsuit claiming antitrust violations by MediaNews and the
Hearst Corporation had also been filed in July 2006. On April 25, 2007, days before the trial was scheduled to begin, the parties reached a settlement in which MediaNews preserved its acquisitions. The
Mercury News and
Contra Costa Times were placed under CNP's local subsidiary, the
Bay Area News Group. Meanwhile, layoffs continued at the
Mercury News. Around December 2016, 101 employees were laid off, including 40 in the newsroom. In April 2013, MediaNews announced that it would sell the
Mercury News campus on Ridder Park Drive in North San Jose. County Supervisor
Dave Cortese approached the
Mercury News about moving into the former San Jose City Hall on North First Street, but the paper ended up returning downtown. In June 2014, printing and production of the
Mercury News and other daily newspapers moved to Bay Area News Group's
Concord and
Hayward facilities. The
Mercury News moved into a downtown office building that September. ==Facilities==