MEDIA MARKET DATA - World Association of Newspapers

newspaper business. http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2006/04/20/003.html; April 20,2006United States of AmericaKnight Ridder, the second-largest newspaper company in the United States, agreed to a 4.5-billion-dollar cash and stock buyout by the McClatchy Company, The New York Timesreported. Citing sources involved in the negotiations, the newspaper said the dealwas expected to be announced March 13. The sale comes as the newspaper industry is grippedby uncertainty, and readers have begun to drift away from printed newspapers whose Websites have experienced sharp gains in use, the report said. The sale may help assuage someinvestors who are nervous about the values of newspaper companies. Knight Riddercommanded a premium of about 25 percent for its shares from the time it put itself up for salein November, the paper said. McClatchy, which is based in Sacramento and publishes TheSacramento Bee and The Minneapolis Star Tribune, among others, was the only majornewspaper company to submit a final bid for Knight Ridder, publisher of 32 dailynewspapers, including such venerable papers as The Miami Herald, The Philadelphia Inquirerand The San Jose Mercury News, according to The Times. While it attracted interest fromsome big publishers, including Gannett, the largest chain in the United States, most majornewspaper companies like The Washington Post Company, the Tribune Company and DowJones passed on the auction entirely, underscoring just how unsettled the biggest players areabout their own business, the report said. AFP; March 13, 2006Equity StakesSaudi ArabiaThe Saudi Research and Marketing Group, publishers of Asharq Al Awsat, Al Eqitsadiah andArab News among ten other publications, will go public on 8 April through an initial publicoffering of 4.8 million shares, which represents 30 per cent of the total stock. In an interviewwith Al Arabiya TV, the group’s Chairman, Prince Faisal Ibn Salman, said the company hasentered a new era by being the first Arab media company to go public in the Saudi stockmarket. The group declared a net profit for 2005 of SR 181.4 million (USD 48.3 million), 290per cent more than the previous year. Shares will be available at SR 230 (USD 61).WAN - APN Newsletter No 11/2006, March 28, 2006Cross-Media OwnershipAustraliaAustralia's conservative government proposed a radical overhaul of media laws that isexpected to trigger a series of mergers in what is already one of the world's most tightly heldnewspaper and television markets. The reform plan unveiled by Communications MinisterHelen Coonan would notably ease restrictions which have prevented Australia's big mediacompanies from owning newspaper, radio and television operations in the same market. Itwould also remove tight limits on foreign ownership of Australian media groups. Critics saythe long-awaited reforms will result in a further loss of diversity of news and opinion in acountry where much of the media is owned by moguls strongly allied to the political right.The Australian subsidiary of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation, News Limited, controlsnearly 70 percent of the metropolitan and national newspaper market and will, under theproposed changes, be able to extend its reach into television. Publishing and Broadcasting Ltd(PBL), built by the late billionaire Kerry Packer and now run by his son James, has dominantinterests in television and magazine publishing and would be able to move into newspapers.73