See a timeline of the McClatchy family’s history in the news business
A look at the McClatchy family’s history with The Sacramento Bee and the McClatchy Company:
- James McClatchy, 17, emigrates to New York from his native Lisburn in what is now Northern Ireland.
- Several years after landing in California, McClatchy helps launch The Daily Bee in Sacramento. The first edition consists of four pages.
- McClatchy buys a one-third share of The Bee.
- McClatchy dies, leaves The Bee to his wife Charlotte and sons Valentine and C.K. McClatchy.
- The family’s second paper, The Fresno Bee, debuts, led by C.K.’s son Carlos.
- The family buys Fresno radio station KMJ. KFBK radio in Sacramento, partly owned by McClatchy, goes on the air Sept. 5.
- The McClatchys buy the Modesto News-Herald, rename it The Modesto Bee.
- Carlos McClatchy dies. His father C.K. resumes leadership.
- The Sacramento Bee wins the Pulitzer Prize for public service, the first public service Pulitzer in California history, for stories on corruption in Nevada.
- C.K. McClatchy asks his daughter Eleanor, an aspiring playwright in New York, to return home and run the company. C.K. dies two months later. Walter Jones becomes editor of three Bees.
- Two days after Jones dies, Eleanor McClatchy names her nephew, also named C.K. McClatchy, to run the newspapers.
- C.K. McClatchy, who replaced Eleanor as company president the year before, completes the first McClatchy newspaper purchase outside California: the struggling Anchorage Daily News. Later that year it buys the Tri-City Herald in Washington.
- McClatchy sells stock to the public at $16.50 a share. A two-tier stock structure is set up, with the McClatchy family holding shares with 10 times the voting power as the public share.
- C.K. McClatchy dies. Ten days later, Erwin Potts, a former newspaper reporter and longtime McClatchy executive, becomes CEO. He later becomes chairman.
- Under CEO Gary Pruitt, McClatchy shocks the newspaper world by spending $1.2 billion for the Minneapolis Star Tribune, a record price for a single U.S. newspaper.
- Pruitt engineers takeover of Knight Ridder chain for $4.4 billion in cash and stock, plus $2 billion in debt assumption, making McClatchy the nation’s second largest newspaper publisher. McClatchy announces it will spin off 12 Knight Ridder papers but deal still leaves McClatchy $3 billion in debt.
- Facing a steep decline in revenue, McClatchy trims workforce 10 percent with first mass layoff in company history. A second 10 percent workforce reduction, a mix of buyouts and layoffs, follows in September.
- Pruitt leaves McClatchy to run the Associated Press. Chief Financial Officer Pat Talamantes replaces him as CEO; chairman post goes to Kevin McClatchy, a fifth-generation descendant of James McClatchy.
- Craig Forman, a former journalist with extensive digital-media experience, replaces Talamantes.
- McClatchy announces heavy losses, says it is trying to unload pension plan on federal government and is negotiating with major creditor Chatham Asset Management on a debt restructuring.
- McClatchy files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy to reorganize its debt, with Chatham Asset Management expected to take a controlling interest in the company from the McClatchy family.
Sources: Sacramento Bee archives, Fresno Bee Archives, Center for Sacramento History, “Papers of Permanence” by Steve Wiegand
Editor’s note: This timeline was based in part on the reporting of former Sacramento Bee reporter Steve Wiegand and his book, “Papers of Permanence,” published by The McClatchy Co. to commemorate the company’s 150th anniversary in 2007.
This story was originally published February 13, 2020 at 2:48 PM.