Gannett buys out remaining stakes in ShopLocal

Newspaper publisher Gannett Co. said Tuesday it purchased stakes held by Tribune Co. and McClatchy Co. in ShopLocal LLC, a marketing and database services company.

Tribune owned 42.5 percent of ShopLocal, while McClatchy owned 15 percent.

McClatchy said it sold its stake for $7.9 million, which would have placed a value of about $52.5 million on the whole venture. Gannett didn't disclose the price it paid for Tribune's stake.

McClatchy said it used the proceeds to pay down debt. It will record a related charge of about $3 million in the second quarter. McClatchy had acquired a stake in ShopLocal through its acquisition of newspaper publisher Knight Ridder Inc. in June 2006, and later sold a portion of that stake to Gannett and Tribune.

ShopLocal will work in conjunction with Gannett's Internet media company PointRoll to create ads for retailers.

Tribune and McClatchy will remain partners with Gannett in CareerBuilder, Classified Ventures and Topix.net. Tribune and Gannett also jointly own Metromix, a network of local entertainment Web sites, and are partners in online advertising venture quadrantOne.

Gannett shares rose 7 cents to $18.90 in afternoon trading after hitting a new low of $18.25 earlier in the session. McClatchy shares fell 38 cents, or 7 percent, to $5.09, after hitting a new low of $5.06.