Companies

A union bid to buy nine newspapers owned by Knight Ridder Inc. is apparently a nonstarter because the chain says it will only consider offers for the entire company. San Jose's Knight Ridder said last month that it is exploring "strategic alternatives,'' including the possible sale of its 32 news-papers. Major investors in Knight Ridder stock who are critical of the company's management have...

NEW YORK: Les Goodstein, President and COO of the Daily News of New York, has joined News Corporation as Senior Vice President. Goodstein, a 28-year veteran of the News, will be responsible for new business development, News Corporation, and serve as an advisor to the New York Post and other News Corporation divisions. He will report to Paul Carlucci, Chairman and CEO of News America Marketing...

NEW YORK (AP) - Under other circumstances, 2006 might look like a pretty good year for the media industry. The Winter Olympics and a midterm election are sure to boost advertising spending, the economy is humming along and consumers seem to be spending. But these are hardly normal circumstances. The broad shift of viewers and advertising dollars to the Internet is deeply troubling to many media...

The day after Hurricane Katrina wrecked the Gulf Coast, Tony Ridder headed for Mississippi, where one of his newspapers was confronting the biggest story in its history without power, telephones or running water. The chairman and chief executive of San Jose-based Knight Ridder Inc. reached the scene before most of the staff of the Biloxi Sun Herald had made it back to the newsroom. He brought in...

CHICAGO This is the story of how one newspaper fought layoffs or buyouts, one half-day at a time. In 2000, the Daily Herald in Chicago's northwestern and western suburbs was on top of the world. Illinois' third-largest daily was also its fastest growing. E&P had named it to its inaugural list of "10 That Do it Right." Revenues were the highest in its history, making Paddock Publishing Co. a $101...

It was a year of goodbyes -- some noble, some less so -- as journalism's old guard departed from the spotlight. And it was a year when some of media's biggest institutions started thinking, in earnest, about reinvention. Dan Rather took his colorful metaphors and erratic temperament from CBS in March, his reputation marred by a flawed report about President Bush and the National Guard. Peter...

Independent News & Media's €33m (£22.5m) investment in Jagran Prakashan Ltd, the Indian newspaper publisher, is expected to be valued at three to four times the initial investment made last June when JPL raises fresh capital in 2006. Independent News acquired 26 per cent of JPL, which is the publisher of the Dainik Jagran – that translates as The Truth – India's largest Hindi language newspaper...

NEW YORK: The newspaper industry had quite the rollercoaster year in 2005, with many of the twists and turns leading down rather than up. We saw anonymous sourcing attacked, blockbuster deals struck, and, of course, cuts, cuts and more cuts. Still, the daily miracle survived, albeit with a need for changes and a continued uncertainty on how to get there. With that, I offer my choices for the top...

Jeff Bewkes, the Svengali who formerly ran Home Box Office and conjured such mega-hits as Sex in the City and The Sopranos, appears set to inherit the Time Warner crown. On Wednesday Bewkes (53), currently in charge of TW's cable networks and film studios, was named president and chief operating officer - an appointment seen by insiders as tantamount to Crown Prince. Bewkes, along with Don Logan...

The Newspaper Guild has hired investment bankers to explore the possibility of putting together what probably would be a long-shot, "worker-friendly" buyout of nine Knight Ridder newspapers, including the St. Paul Pioneer Press and the Duluth News Tribune. Knight Ridder, which owns 32 daily newspapers, put itself up for auction in November at the urging of some of its large institutional investors...