Reuters is reporting tonight (Sunday, April 16) that negotiations to sell the San Jose Mercury News and three other Knight Ridder newspapers to Dean Singleton’s MediaNews are at a “sensitive stage” and “could fall apart at any time” because “[q]uestions still remain over whether MediaNews will partner with financial backers or another company to help pay for any acquisitions, one source said.” For months, the word among insiders was that Dean Singleton’s MediaNews would be buying the Mercury News and other Knight Ridder newspapers in Northern California. But when Knight Ridder put itself up for sale, Singleton didn’t bid, which raised questions about whether he had the money to pull off such a deal. More eyebrows went up when a March 28 deadline to bid on the 12 KR papers McClatchy was spinning off came and went without any word on whether Singleton had a deal. Then, a couple days after the deadline, McClatchy officials told the LA Times that the bidding process might take another two months, pushing the date to June 1 at the latest.