Philadelphia Inquirer goes to auction

One of America's most famous newspapers, the Philadelphia Inquirer , is to be auctioned off. It follows the collapse of a $139m (£107m) takeover bid for the title and its tabloid stablemate, the Daily Post . The papers' fate will now be decided on 23 September when a cash auction will be held. They have been operating under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection since February 2009. A consortium that included an investment firm and a banking group had hoped to buy the papers, but the deal was conditional on reaching various agreements with 16 unions, and it was scuttled by a dispute with drivers over pension arrangements. The papers were acquired for $515m (£332m) by public relations executive Brian Tierney from the Knight Ridder group. His company was unable to staunch heavy losses in revenue. Source: Reuters