Knight Ridder Delays Annual Meeting

Knight Ridder Inc., which put itself up for sale under pressure from investors, postponed its annual meeting and adjusted severance plans for some executives to ensure that they would not lose out in a sale.

The planned April 18 annual shareholders meeting was put off indefinitely, San Jose-based Knight Ridder said in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing.

The publisher of the San Jose Mercury News also said it changed some compensation plans to preserve benefits for executives eligible for retirement.

Fired executives would be given a lump-sum cash payment equal to three times their annual salary and bonus for the current or preceding year and three years of healthcare and life insurance, the filing said.