McClatchy chairman Gary Pruitt, fresh from victory in acquiring Knight Ridder, said something KR execs haven’t been able to say — “We have no plans for across-the-board layoffs or Draconian cuts in our newspapers.” A story in Editor & Publisher by Mark Fitzgerald and Jennifer Saba says that Pruitt will achieve at least $60 million in cost savings by eliminating $40 million in corporate overhead and $15 million by eliminating overlaps between Knight Ridder Digital and McClatchy’s Internet division. Pruitt said they are still sorting out which senior Knight Ridder executives they will retain after the sale closes. “Obviously they are redundancies in the corporate area,” Pruitt explained. “We don’t anticipate any layoffs at the newspaper level as a result of this transaction.” [E&P’s 2001 profile of Pruitt] [KR’s Washington Bureau is safe] [Guild says it still wants to buy KR’s union papers] [Analyst John Morton changes tune on KR sale]