The Star’s parent company reports a quarterly profit

The McClatchy Co., which owns The Kansas City Star, on Wednesday reported a fourth-quarter profit of $303 million, helped largely by the previously announced sale of its stake in Cars.com.

Sacramento-based McClatchy earned $631.8 million in proceeds from the sale, which closed Oct. 1. It sold its 25.6 percent interest in Cars.com to Gannett.

Excluding the gain from the sale, McClatchy said profits from continuing operations fell to $11 million in the quarter from $29.4 million a year earlier.

Total revenue in the fourth quarter fell 5.9 percent to $317.6 million.

McClatchy said it reduced its debt by $523 million in the fourth quarter. Outstanding debt now stands at about $1 billion, the company said.

For the full year, total revenue fell 3.9 percent to $1.17 billion. Net income rose to $374 million, including gains from the sales of Cars.com and another Internet investment, Apartments.com. In 2013, the company earned $18.8 million.

McClatchy publishes newspapers in 28 markets, including The Sacramento Bee, The Miami Herald, The Wichita Eagle and the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

This story was originally published February 11, 2015 at 11:24 AM with the headline "The Star’s parent company reports a quarterly profit."