McClatchy Co., Owner of The Sacramento Bee and Other Newspapers, Gets Some Action
Sacrameno’s best known public company, McClatchy Co. (MNI), owner of the Sacramento Bee, Miami Herald and other major newspapers, has been one of the worst stocks in the entire market the last couple of years.
On top of an industry-wide recession due to the shift of readers, and therefore advertisers, onto the web, McClatchy had the unfotunate luck to acquire Knight-Ridder (March 13, 2006), another large newspaper publisher, just as the scope of the problem was becoming entrenched in investor’s outlook.
The stock, already down from $75 in early 2005 to $50, has taken it on the chin falling all the way to around $25 over the last year plus (3 year chart).
But, after a relentless downtrend over the last 2 years, McClatchy’s stock has perked up a bit the last two weeks on interest from some large money managers.
A couple Friday’s ago (6/29), Citadel Investment, a hedge fund, reported a 5.7% stake in McClatchy.
And now, yesterday Ariel Capital announced that it upped it’s stake in McClatchy by 50% in the most recent period, making it McClatchy’s largest shareholder.
These announcements have given McClatchy’s stock some much needed life, pushing it up about 12% in the last two weeks.
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The Sacramento Business Journal had a worthwhile cover story on McClatchy’s sagging stock (subscription required) a couple weeks ago. If anybody wants to read it, send me your e-mail address and I’ll e-mail it to you.