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...
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