Seattle Times Loses Almost 90% of its Value

Hoo boy. Seattle's second paper is in trouble.

The McClatchy Co. figures the value of its not-quite-half stake in Blethen family-controlled Seattle Times Co. has tumbled to barely one-tenth of its worth just two years ago.
 
In a Securities and Exchange Commission filing, McClatchy estimated its 49.5% stake in the publisher of The Seattle Times has a value of $12.06 million. That's a drop of more than one-third from the carrying value it assigned its Times Co. interest last December -- and represents a 88% drop from its estimated value of $102.2 million at the end of 2006.