Gannett, Tribune Raise Stakes in CareerBuilder

Gannett Co. and Tribune Co., the two biggest U.S. newspaper publishers, will pay McClatchy Co. $310 million to gain a larger share of CareerBuilder.com and two other websites.

The transaction values the biggest U.S. help-wanted site at $1.55 billion, the companies said. Each will pay $142 million to increase their stakes in CareerBuilder to 42.5%.

Gannett, whose newspapers include USA Today, and Tribune, publisher of the Chicago Tribune and Los Angeles Times, also boosted their stakes in online retailer ShopLocal.com and news site Topix.net.

The deal signals the importance being placed on CareerBuilder by the newspaper companies as they seek to stem the loss of classified advertisers to the Web. McClatchy will retain a 15% stake in the site, part of its purchase of Knight Ridder Inc.