by: Michelle Leder posted on: May 10, 2006 | about stocks: KRI / MNI    

Earlier today, McClatchy & Co. (MNI) filed this amended S-4, which substantially upped the severance payments that Knight-Ridder’s (KRI) top executives will receive once the merger is completed. CEO Tony Ridder, which earlier news accounts estimated would receive $7.28 million in severance, would actually get $9.36 million in severance according to today’s filing, or nearly 10 times his annual salary of $980K last year. Other top executives will also clean up: as a group, they’ll collect nearly $30 million, with each of Knight-Ridder’s four other top executives collecting over $4 million a piece.

One other addition to the filing includes the full vesting of all options seven days before the merger is set to close. For Tony Ridder, that works out to 235,666 options. There are also details on performance units and restricted shares.

What does all of this say about the newspaper business, which so many people are wringing their hands over? That there’s plenty of money for the important things in life: rewarding top executives post-merger. The reporters — full disclosure here: I used to work for a Knight-Ridder paper — don’t fare quite as well.

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Michelle Leder

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