Companies

PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - Publisher McClatchy Co. is in advanced talks with privately-held MediaNews Group Inc. over four newspapers McClatchy plans to sell as part of its buyout of Knight Ridder Inc., according to sources close to the sale process. MediaNews is the lead candidate to buy the San Jose Mercury News, the Contra Costa Times and The Monterey County Herald in Northern California, and is...

NEW YORK, April 15 (Reuters) - New York Times Co. (NYT.N: Quote, Profile, Research), McClatchy Co. (MNI.N: Quote, Profile, Research) and Tribune Co. (TRB.N: Quote, Profile, Research) on Thursday posted sharply lower quarterly earnings on high newsprint costs and depressed advertising sales. The results from the three large publishers underscored the troubles faced by the industry, including...

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Yahoo Inc.'s (YHOO.O: Quote) Chief Executive Terry Semel exercised options on 7 million shares, which after deducting the prices paid for the stock, netted him $173.6 million in 2005, the company said in a U.S. regulatory filing on Friday. Semel, the chairman and CEO of the world's largest Internet media company, also received restricted stock now worth $7.8 million and...

AOL chairman and CEO Jonathan Miller was around for the first internet crash. So, like most senior executives anticipating a second online boom, he is cautious. But confidently so. The internet giant has faced problems during the past few years - moving uncomfortably from a dial-up economy to a broadband one -but Miller believes it is now sitting pretty. After being shut out of the broadband...

CONSOLIDATIONS AMONG ONLINE MEDIA COMPANIES accelerated in the first quarter, according to a new report by the Jordan, Edmiston Group, Inc. Led by NBC Universal's purchase last month of women's network iVillage for $550 million, the first quarter saw 37 online media mergers and acquisitions, which totaled $2.36 billion. In the first three months of last year, by contrast, 24 deals transpired in...

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Time Inc. eliminated another 250 jobs today in its latest, largest and, perhaps, last round of cutbacks. The mid-level and junior-level workers shown the door almost all came from the business side of operations at a long list of titles. "We do believe this is the vast majority of reductions for the foreseeable future," said Ali Zelenko, a Time Inc. spokeswoman. "As Time...

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - College graduates this spring are seeing the best jobs market since 2000, with many getting larger starting salaries than were being offered a year ago, according to some experts in the field. A survey by the National Association of Colleges and Employers shows employers hiring nearly 15 percent more recent college grads than a year ago, and a particularly strong market...

Los Angeles investor Ron Burkle may be willing to pay more than $2 billion for the 12 Knight Ridder Inc. newspapers now up for sale – a price that could make him a serious contender in the bidding. Burkle's Yucaipa Cos., in alliance with a union representing newspaper workers, last week submitted a tentative bid for the papers that included a range of possible prices. Two people familiar with...

The National Enquirer's infatuation with British journalists may have run its course. Its British editor, Paul Field, has been fired and the future could be uncertain for some of the Fleet Street reporters he hired to reinvigorate the US magazine. Mr Field, 34, was escorted from the magazine's New York offices on Tuesday, apparently having had no idea that the Enquirer's owners, American Media Inc...

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - Time Warner Chairman and CEO Richard Parsons, who was under fire much of the last year from investor Carl Icahn, saw his total compensation decline slightly to $16 million in 2005. Parson's base salary in 2005 was $1.5 million, unchanged from the previous two years, according to the company's filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission late Tuesday. His bonus was...