Daily Mail and General Trust (DMGT) of Britain pulled its Northcliffe regional newspaper unit off the market. Northcliffe has over 100 publications to include 20 daily newspapers. Northcliffe was for sale, hoping to catch offers above 11 times cash flow. The offers were for less, particularly the reported offer by American giant Gannett, the largest newspaper publisher in the US.

Industry word was if Gannett scored in its Northcliffe bid, Gannett would back off bidding for Knight Ridder, publisher of The State . Now that Gannett has no more opportunity in the UK, it can get back to the US, specifically Knight Ridder.

With lowered value in Britain, maybe Knight Ridder is barely worth its market capitalization value, about $4.2 billion. If that's all that comes in by bidding deadline this Thursday, March 9, Knight Ridder might pull itself off the market, too, just like Northcliffe. The disgruntled shareholders who started all this will have to sit still while Knight Ridder regroups and reconsiders its next move.

The State has been guessed to be worth $300 million, but no business journalism has made the obvious observation of The State's cash cow on the side, the daily printing of USA Today . The State 's numbers look almost all right, but no one outside Knight Ridder knows how much is made at the printing plant with the USA Today contract.

If The State is spun off and sold separately, the number crunch must include the USA Today printing operation. For now, though, all is reported on The State are newspaper numbers: advertising, column inches, circulation, and the like.

The City of Columbia is taking a keen interest in what The State 's physical compound is worth because the city has annexation on its mind. And annexation begets taxation. A higher taxation onthe property can mean a lower value in the sale price of the property. Knight Ridder must think this is a terrible time to talk higher taxation at their Shop Road address.

Next week: What happened.