McClatchy to purchase Knight Ridder

Thanks to Amanda for letting me know that The New York Times is reporting that the McClatchy Company is buying the Knight Ridder newspaper chain for $4.5 billion.

McClatchy publishes 12 dailies and 17 community newspapers which "have a combined average circulation of 1.4 million daily and 1.9 million Sunday." By comparison, Knight Ridder publishes 32 dailies, among them The Miami Herald, The Philadelphia Inquirer and the San Jose Mercury News.

Chuck Richard, an analyst for Outsell Inc. sees the sale this way: "McClatchy is a dolphin swallowing a small whale."

The deal will be officially announced tomorrow.