Another potential buyer for Cox newspapers

I can't believe that I forgot about this in my prior post, but another logical suitor for the Cox papers would be Hearst. Hearst operates papers in San Antonio and Houston and these papers are working on ways to share coverage. Adding additional regional assets would further this coverage centralization.

Furthermore, as a private company, Hearst could avoid the inevitable criticism from Wall Street toward any buyer of papers not called Murdoch. AH Belo would not have the same luxury. McClatchy who owns the Fort Worth Star Telegram also has the public criticism as well as an astronomical debt load.

If I were guessing on who ends up with these papers I would use the following order, from most to least likely:

Hearst, AH Belo, Wealthy Individuals, Private Equity, Me, the US Government followed distantly by Tribune, MediaNewsGroup or Journal Register Company.