Released: 12/30/2008

SACRAMENTO, Calif., Dec. 30 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- The McClatchy Company (NYSE: MNI) announced today that it has extended the closing date of its agreement to sell 10 acres of land adjacent to The Miami Herald in order to allow the buyer additional time to arrange financing in this difficult credit environment.

The purchase price remains unchanged at $190 million -- $10 million of which McClatchy has already received in the form of a nonrefundable deposit.

With the acquisition of Knight-Ridder, Inc. in 2006, McClatchy inherited an agreement to sell The Miami Herald's 10-acre parking lot with no expiration date on the deal. The contract had subsequently been amended to require closing by Dec. 31, 2008.

Under the terms of the new amendment, the buyer, Citisquare Group, LLC, has agreed to close the transaction on or before June 30, 2009, and will relinquish its right of first refusal to purchase The Miami Herald's building and underlying land, which was included in the original agreement. Citisquare has the ability to extend the agreement for an additional six months to Dec. 31, 2009, by increasing the termination fee payable to McClatchy should the deal fail to close.

Gary Pruitt, McClatchy's chairman and CEO, said, "We are pleased to reach an accommodation with Citisquare to preserve this valuable transaction. Maefield Development, a Citisquare partner and the developer of this land, has expressed confidence to us that the deal will close."

Pat Talamantes, McClatchy's vice president and CFO, said, "While we would have preferred to close the transaction at the end of this year so that we could repay debt with the proceeds, we are happy to have preserved an important deal for both parties. We believe this extension will allow time for credit markets to improve so the buyer can obtain the needed financing to complete the deal."

Talamantes added, "Postponing the closing of this transaction does not have any funding repercussions for McClatchy under its credit agreement. We expect to continue to have ample availability under our revolving line of credit to meet our funding requirements, including public bonds maturing in April 2009. Thereafter, the company has no other bank or bond debt maturities until June 2011."

About McClatchy

The McClatchy Company is the third largest newspaper company in the United States, with 30 daily newspapers, approximately 50 non-dailies, and direct marketing and direct mail operations. McClatchy also operates leading local websites in each of its markets which extend its audience reach. The websites offer users comprehensive news and information, advertising, e-commerce and other services. Together with its newspapers and direct marketing products, these interactive operations make McClatchy the leading local media company in each of its premium high growth markets. McClatchy-owned newspapers include The Miami Herald, The Sacramento Bee, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, The Kansas City Star, the Charlotte Observer, and The (Raleigh) News & Observer.

McClatchy also owns a portfolio of premium digital assets, including 14.4% of CareerBuilder, the nation's largest online job site, and 25.6% of Classified Ventures, a newspaper industry partnership that offers two of the nation's premier classified websites: the auto website, cars.com, and the rental site, apartments.com. McClatchy is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol MNI.

Additional Information

Statements in this press release regarding future financial and operating results, including the completion of any transactions, levels of cash flows or debt levels, as well as future opportunities for the company and any other statements about management's future expectations, beliefs, goals, plans or prospects constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Any statements that are not statements of historical fact (including statements containing the words "believes," "plans," "anticipates," "expects," estimates and similar expressions) should also be considered to be forward-looking statements. There are a number of important risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements, including: the duration and depth of an economic recession in markets where McClatchy operates its newspapers may reduce its income and cash flow greater than expected; McClatchy may not consummate contemplated transactions which may enable debt reduction on anticipated terms or at all; McClatchy may not achieve its expense reduction targets or may do harm to its operations in attempting to achieve such targets; McClatchy's operations have been, and will likely continue to be, adversely affected by competition, including competition from internet publishing and advertising platforms; McClatchy's expense and income levels could be adversely affected by changes in the cost of newsprint and McClatchy's operations could be negatively affected by any deterioration in its labor relations, as well as the other risks detailed from time to time in the Company's publicly filed documents, including the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 30, 2007, filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. McClatchy disclaims any intention and assumes no obligation to update the forward-looking information contained in this release.

SOURCE The McClatchy Company

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