Billy Dean Singleton (pictured) will probably be able to buy Knight Ridder at a “fire-sale price,” Fortune Magazine writer Devin Leonard says in an article out today. Leonard says public companies like Gannett won’t touch KR because it will trigger a shareholder backlash. Private equity companies won’t bid for KR because tax rules will prevent them from selling off individual papers at a profit. And so that leaves Singleton, who already owns the Alameda Newspaper Group (Oakland Tribune, San Mateo County Times, Marin Independent Journal, etc.). If Singleton acquires KR, and its Bay Area papers (Mercury News, Contra Costa Times, Palo Alto Daily News group), he will pass the Chronicle in circulation.