Hearst Corp

Hearst Corp., publisher of the San Francisco Chronicle and almost 200 magazines, plans to offer about $593.1 million for the stock of Hearst-Argyle Television Inc. it doesn't already own. The cash offer of $23.50 a share represented a 15% premium over Hearst-Argyle's closing share price Thursday, closely held Hearst Corp. said. Hearst Corp. owns a 73% stake in Hearst-Argyle, whose sales and profit have been hurt by a decline in advertising revenue. Hearst-Argyle shares jumped $4.

Tribune Co. agreed to sell two Connecticut newspapers to Hearst Corp. for $62.4 million, less than Gannett Co. had planned to pay for them before canceling the deal in May. The Stamford Advocate and Greenwich Time will be managed by Denver-based MediaNews Group Inc. in a joint venture with Hearst, said Chicago-based Tribune, also parent of the Los Angeles Times. Connecticut Atty. Gen. Richard Blumenthal said his office planned to investigate the sale to see if it violates antitrust laws.

Hearst Corp. said it would boost its investment in Hearst-Argyle Television Inc. to as much as 82%, less than two months after dropping a plan to buy out minority investors. The purchase of as many as 8 million additional shares will allow Hearst Corp. to consolidate results of Hearst-Argyle for U.S. income tax, New York-based Hearst-Argyle said in a regulatory filing. As of Wednesday, Hearst Corp. owned a 74% stake.

Hearst Corp. said Tuesday that it would sell or close the San Francisco Chronicle, the second newspaper the company has put on the block this year, after the publication lost more than $50 million in 2008. Hearst plans to cut a "significant" number of jobs at the newspaper, the New York-based publisher said. Hearst said Jan. 9 that it may close the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, which lost $14 million last year, if it cannot find a buyer by March.

Negotiations to preserve the Hearst Ranch at San Simeon are moving again as Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's administration is pursuing the project and focusing on turning the most visible part of the ranch -- 18 miles of coastline -- into state parkland. Although the Hearst Corp. has long floated the idea of preserving its historic family ranch for a price, only this week have details begun to emerge.

California officials and Hearst Corp. have reached a tentative agreement on a $95-million deal to preserve most of the rolling hills and grassy tablelands of the Hearst Ranch around San Simeon, which have long served as a picturesque gateway to Big Sur. Under the proposed accord, which California Resources Secretary Mike Chrisman announced after months of negotiations, the state would buy about 1,400 acres west of Highway 1.

As state officials near a key decision on the $95-million deal to preserve Hearst Ranch, the terms of the transaction are coming under increasing criticism that the deal is too generous to the Hearst Corp. The latest critique, from the legislative analyst's office, a nonpartisan fiscal watchdog, contends that the deal may be based on a faulty appraisal and lacks specific, enforceable provisions to protect wildlife and rare plants.

Subject to a will that threatens rebellious heirs with disinheritance, descendants of William Randolph Hearst are just now daring to break a long silence over the management of their legendary holdings. The impetus for speaking out is the controversy over a proposed commercial development on the 77,000-acre Hearst ranch at San Simeon. The rare public disagreements have brought into view an underlying division between at least some members of the famous family and its hired managers.

Phoebe Hearst Cooke is a noted horsewoman and philanthropist. She owns two ranches in San Luis Obispo County, and with assets between $1.5 billion and $2 billion, she is a fixture on the Forbes list of America's wealthiest people. She also is at the center of legal actions filed by relatives who contend the 81-year-old granddaughter of publishing legend William Randolph Hearst no longer has the capacity to manage her own affairs.