N.Y. Post Says It Wants Daily News : * Media: Post Publisher Peter S. Kalikow’s expression of interest comes at a time when the News is in disarray.

New York Post Publisher Peter S. Kalikow said Thursday that he’d like to acquire the New York Daily News, but his expression of interest drew a barbed response from the troubled tabloid.

Kalikow, a real estate magnate who plunged into personal bankruptcy proceedings last summer, said the terms and conditions of his offer will be disclosed after he reviewed confidential financial information being circulated to possible buyers of the News.

But the News, which entered Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings in December, wants to pore over its rival’s books before unveiling its own through its investment banker, Salomon Bros.

“As they have with others,” the News said, “Salomon would be happy to conduct a detailed review of Mr. Kalikow’s financial condition prior to releasing any information about the News.”

Post officials acknowledged that Kalikow’s interest might seem curious.

“We certainly understand why this offer might look to some like ‘The Mouse That Roared,’ ” Editor Jerry Nachman said. Still, Nachman argued that Kalikow “might be able to solve the News’ problems” by negotiating with the paper’s unions, “as he did here.”

The News’ future has been in doubt since the mysterious death at sea of its owner and publisher, Robert Maxwell, last November.

“It is abundantly clear to me, and anyone familiar with the New York newspaper market, that the surest, and perhaps only, opportunity for the Daily News’ survival lies in a combination with the New York Post,” Kalikow said in a statement.

He said he could not say “what a combination of the Post and the Daily News would be like.” A source close to the publisher said his tentative plan includes combining the papers’ printing, advertising and circulation operations in the Post’s building, and continuing to publish both papers but shifting one--probably the Post--from morning to afternoon publication.

The Post, whose daily circulation is about 550,000, employs about 700; the News, which claims about 800,000 circulation, has more than 1,900 workers.

A combination would result in major reductions in employment, “and there’s a real question what it would cost to get rid of so many bodies,” said John S. Reidy, a media analyst at Smith Barney, Harris Upham & Co., a New York brokerage.

U.S. News and World Report Publisher Mortimer Zuckerman and financier Marvin Davis also are eyeing the News.

“Frankly, if it’s going to make sense for anyone, it’s going to make sense for the Post,” said Robert M. Johnson, publisher of the tabloid Newsday, whose circulation of 770,000 includes 270,000 from its New York edition. Newsday is published by Times Mirror Co., which also publishes the Los Angeles Times.

An acquisition of the News, Johnson noted, would give Kalikow a Sunday edition, something the Post has desperately sought. Analysts believe that the Post lost tens of millions of dollars in a failed attempt to launch a Sunday edition a few years ago.

Whether or not Kalikow succeeds in his bid, Johnson added, “the fact is, one way or the other, there is going to be a change in this newspaper market.”