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Star Tribune's memo to staff on the sale of the newspaper

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To: McClatchy employees

From: Gary Pruitt, CEO

Many of you will have heard or read by now that McClatchy has agreed to sell the Minneapolis Star Tribune to Avista Capital Partners. We expect the deal to close in the first quarter of 2007.

And while there were a dozen newspaper transactions associated with our acquisition of Knight Ridder earlier this year, I know this particular deal comes as an unsettling surprise. Selling an established McClatchy paper certainly is not business-as-usual for us.

Details about the deal are available in the attached press release, but I want to speak directly to you about one point: this deal came about because of very specific conditions involving the Star Tribune and today's changing media landscape. We have no plans to sell any other newspapers.

In fact, we struck this deal to make the company stronger overall. While it is painful and difficult to say farewell to talented and hardworking colleagues at the Star Tribune , we know that McClatchy will be in a stronger position going forward as we work with you in building the news company of the future.

Following the sale and the debt repayment it allows, McClatchy will be in better shape to navigate through changing conditions. It will improve our operating performance, increase operational flexibility and give us freedom to make investments to extend our growing online operations.

To: McClatchy employees

From: Gary Pruitt, CEO

This sale might lead some to conclude that McClatchy has doubts about the direction of our company or that the Knight Ridder acquisition has proved ill advised. Both conclusions are wrong. Thanks to the Knight Ridder additions, our portfolio of newspapers and related enterprises has never been stronger. We are not complacent about the future, but we are very confident. We are not waiting for events to overtake us; we are actively building our future together instead.

Our mission remains unchanged: to bring the benefits of independent, public service journalism to the communities we serve. It has animated this company for nearly 150 years, and it animates us still.

If you have questions about this deal or what it means to you, please talk with your supervisor, or write to us directly at questions@mcclatchy.com. We have much hard work ahead of us, but we can approach the future more confidently as a result of the sale we have announced today.