No. 5 for the Knights

Of all U.S. daily newspapers, few are faster growing or more prosperous than those in the Knight chain. Since taking over the Akron Beacon Journal in 1933, John S. (Jack) Knight, 60, along with his brother James, 45, have bought papers in Miami, Chicago and Detroit, built them into the nation's third biggest chain (behind Hearst and Scripps-Howard), with a combined circulation of 1,389,766. Last week the Knights added a fifth link: the 84-year-old Charlotte, N.C. Observer, one of the South's biggest and richest newspapers. Price: about $7,500,000.

The sellers were Mrs. Curtis B. Johnson, widow of the Observer's longtime publisher, who owned 5,750 (57 1/2%) shares of stock, and Mrs. Walter B. Sullivan, widow of the Observer's co-owner, who held the rest of the stock. The Observer's new publisher will be Jim Knight, executive vice president of the chain and general manager of the Miami Herald. Said new Publisher Knight in a city-room talk to the Observer's staff: "We intend to run the Observer as a completely local operation. We have a few tricks we can offer you as consultants. But you will have no absentee management."

For their money, the Knights got a paper with a daily circulation of 136.302 (146,180 on Sunday), one of the few U.S. dailies with a circulation larger than the population of the city it serves. Earnings in 1954 were about $1,000,000 before taxes, and the paper has a $2,000,000 cash surplus in the till.

If the Knights run true to form, the Observer will probably grow bigger and richer. The Knight papers boast the fastest growing circulation in their areas, with advertising to match. Since the Knight brothers took over the Akron Beacon Journal from their father, its circulation has grown more than 135%, to 152,381. The Chicago Daily News has jumped almost 35%, to 576,350 since they bought it, while the Detroit Free Press has grown 40%, to 456,261 daily, jumped 48,000 last year alone; the Miami Herald has upped its circulation more than 325%, to 204,774 daily, is now Florida's biggest morning paper.

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