Tony Ridder Quotations

unless and until its board of directors has approved a specific transaction.

We feel the need to go our own way.

For those 12 newspapers that are being sold, the uncertainty is not over, and I regret that very much.

Our jobs, always, have been to publish great newspapers and online services, and we have done that very well, ... It is important that we continue to do so in the weeks and months to come. Indeed, a big part of all of our jobs will be to stay focused. Nothing could be more critical to the best outcome of the process we're now in than that we run our businesses well.

We expect ad revenue to grow in the second half at about the same rate that it grew in the first,

The only responsible course is to tighten our operations, ... but with maximum sensitivity to assuring the quality of our journalism and the long-term health of our franchises so that we are better positioned to meet the future, whatever the economic environment.

The quarter was challenging. With total ad revenue up only 1 percent, and with the persistence of the soft revenue patterns across the industry for many months now (employment and real estate excepted), we continue to look to the second half for improvement.

We promised a strong bottom-line performance this year, and we are going to deliver, ... We have offset some tightening in the revenue environment with tough cost discipline, and that will not be a one-time event.

With ad revenue down a steady (and not worsening) 8 percent to 9 percent in each month of the quarter, we may have seen the floor.

We'd consider it, but we don't have any control over the Times board. Who would buy something like that?

While the fundamentals of this quarter were disappointing, we took important steps to position our company for a strong future in both print and online publishing, and our accomplishments were significant,

Ad revenue growth in February and March, boosted by the early Easter, was the strongest we have seen since the first quarter of 1998. Our focus on operations, with emphasis on cost control and margin improvement, is clearly paying off.

strategic alternatives to enhance shareholder value, including the possible sale of the company.

Dealing with a drummer isn't that much different from dealing with someone from IT.

Despite flat revenue, we beat the Street's consensus (earnings forecast) by two cents and faced by far the stiffest advertising comparisons of the year.

Despite flat revenue, we beat the Street's consensus (earnings forecast) by 2 cents and faced by far the stiffest advertising comparisons of the year.

This is a difficult time in so many ways, but in no way greater than having to disrupt the lives and trust of Knight Ridder people with whom we have worked so closely. But I do feel we have no choice.

Although recruitment and real estate have remained strong all year, we did not see the hoped-for turnaround in auto in August,

There were things Gannett wanted to do and things Knight Ridder wanted to do, ... We decided if we could develop an exit strategy that would leave us whole, it would be a positive thing for both parties.

As promised, we delivered a very strong earnings-per-share (excluding nonrecurring items) performance in 1998. We did this in a year where not everything was going our way, which demonstrates our ability-and commitment-to tight management despite soft revenues in key markets.

The newspaper business is strong in most markets, and we continue to restructure culturally to take advantage of it,

The newspaper business is a great business, ... We've just made the biggest acquisition in the history of our industry when we bought four newspapers from Disney ( DIS ). We think the newspaper business in print form . . . is a very, very good business.

That level of cost increase will not be repeated in the fourth quarter,

In all of the cities where we have newspapers, we run the business.

I honestly do not know who is the likely buyer.

Although business started to revive a couple of weeks after the terrorist attack, the initiation of bombing in Afghanistan caused another slowdown, ... Our ultimate performance will be contingent upon resumption of more normal business patterns.

a nationally read paper capable of being leveraged in the online market.

The last few years have been very strong for the newspaper industry, ... And we think next year is going to be a very good year, as well.