Honey I shrunk the company: McClatchy swallows one-and-a-half billion dollar accounting charge

McClatchy Company announced Thursday it was swallowing an accounting charge of nearly one-and-a-half billion dollars, reflecting the shrunken value of its assets. McClatchy announced last month it would be taking a write-down. From Joseph Hollack:

McClatchy, which owns The Bee, now says it lost $1.35 billion during the quarter. And while company executives say McClatchy's long-term future remains bright, the write-down shows that the near term will continue to be difficult.

The write-down, also known as an impairment charge, reflects in part the diminished value of the Knight Ridder acquisition as well as the overall sluggishness facing all of McClatchy's newspapers. It also is partially a reflection of the big drop in the company's stock price over the past year and a half.

Forbes article here. Editor & Publisher here. Reuters here.