The McClatchy Company dates to the California Gold Rush era of 1857, when James McClatchy was one of the founding editors of its first newspaper, The Sacramento Bee -- one of the oldest newspapers in the West. Coverage of California’s Central Valley expanded with the founding of The Fresno Bee in 1922 and the purchase of The Modesto Bee in 1927.For more than a century, California was the cornerstone of the company. In 1979, McClatchy expanded into the Northwest with the purchase of the Anchorage Daily News and the Tri-City Herald in Kennewick, Wash. In 1986, The News Tribune in Tacoma, Wash., was added to McClatchy’s growing family of newspapers. The company went public in February 1988 and its Class A common shares are listed on The New York Stock Exchange under the symbol MNI. The company’s Class B common stock, which controls a majority of shareholder voting power, is not publicly traded.In 1990, McClatchy began publishing on the East Coast with the purchase of three daily newspapers in South Carolina: The Herald in Rock Hill, The Island Packet on Hilton Head Island, and The Beaufort Gazette. The company entered North Carolina in 1995 with the acquisition of The News & Observer in Raleigh and several affiliated non-dailies. McClatchy Interactive, known as Nando Media prior to 2005, was created by The News & Observer and acquired by McClatchy when it bought the newspaper. The Star Tribune, which serves the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul, was acquired in 1998 and positioned the company in four distinct, fast-growing regions in the nation.