There will be no sale after all of the 14.4% stake that the McClatchy Company still holds in CareerBuilder. McClatchy says it has negotiated new terms for its newspapers with CareerBuilder’s primary owners, Gannett and Tribune, so it will remain a minority owner and affiliate.
McClatchy acquired a 33% stake in CareerBuilder with its acquisition of Knight-Ridder in June 2006, and in August 2006 sold 18.3% of the interest it acquired to Gannett and Tribune, who had been the other two-thirds owners. At that time, McClatchy said it entered into an affiliate agreement with CareerBuilder that limited the number of products McClatchy’s newspapers could sell compared to the former Knight-Ridder affiliate agreement and the Gannett and Tribune affiliate agreements. Earlier this year McClatchy began talks with Gannett and Tribune to renegotiate that affiliation agreement to be, in the view of McClatchy, "more equitable" to its newspapers.
"It was our clear preference to remain with CareerBuilder, and we are pleased to continue our affiliation with them and to continue with our ownership of the nation’s largest online job site. We believe the new affiliate agreement is more equitable for our newspapers and we look forward to a successful relationship with CareerBuilder," said McClatchy CEO Gary Pruitt. (pictured)
