Knight-Ridder to Buy Four Disney Papers

Knight-Ridder Inc. on Friday announced a $1.65-billion deal to purchase four newspapers from Walt Disney Co.

Knight-Ridder also said it would sell its online information services to concentrate on the company’s core newspaper business.

Disney, based in Burbank, had been expected to get out of publishing since it agreed in August 1995 to buy Capital Cities/ABC for $19 billion.

“Knight-Ridder was one of the people who approached us to bid on them,” Disney spokesman Tom Deegan said. “We thought it was the best deal we could get for those publications.”

Knight-Ridder, which publishes Miami Herald as well as 30 other U.S. newspapers, will acquire the Kansas City Star (circulation 291,000 daily and 424,000 Sunday), Fort Worth Star-Telegram and its Arlington, Texas, edition (combined circulation of 240,000 daily and 342,000 Sunday), Belleville (Ill.) News-Democrat (circulation 51,000 daily and 62,000 Sunday), and Times Leader in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., (circulation 48,000 daily and 70,000 Sunday).

Representatives of Times Mirror Co., Tribune Co. and Hearst Corp. also visited the Star and Star-Telegram while the papers were on the market.

Knight-Ridder plans to finance the purchase by assuming $990 million in debt and issuing $660 million in preferred stock. The deal should be completed within 60 days.

To concentrate on publishing, Knight-Ridder will sell Knight-Ridder Information Inc., its online information service for business and professional users, which includes Dialog and DataStar.

Knight-Ridder also said it plans to buy back 15 million shares, continuing a long-running stock buyback program.