Knight-Ridder Sets New Jobs For Roll, Schulte; Jordan Quits

In its third management reshuffle in less than a year, Knight- Ridder Inc.'s financial information group (FIG) is recalling Donald G. Schulte, managing director of Knight-Ridder Unicom in London, for a "senior management role" back in the States. Donald C. Roll, president of Knight-Ridder's commodities information division (CID) based in Chicago, will be his successor.

The announcement of the reshuffle, made March 15, closely coincides with the resignation of Thomas Jordan, FIG managing director, North and South America (TST, March 26). Jordan's last day with the company was March 16. A Knight-Ridder spokesperson says Jordan won't be replaced. Roll's and Schulte's appointments are effective on or about July 1.

Both FIG and CID are part of Knight-Ridder's business information services division (BISD), which also includes Knight- Ridder Unicom, the company's international financial information service. Schulte currently runs the latter, reporting to BISD chief David Ray, who in a reshuffle last summer was given the additional post of president of FIG (MTR, July 24, 1989). In a second recent reorganization, Ray was temporarily relieved of his responsibility for Knight-Ridder's electronic publishing group (IMD, Feb. 20). Until his resignation, Jordan was responsible for FIG operations in the Americas, also reporting to Ray.

Schulte and other Knight-Ridder executives decline to comment on what he'll be doing once he gets back from London. An announcement is expected in the next several weeks. But sources say he'll return to Kansas City as head of technology for FIG, reporting directly to Ray.

Current FIG technology chief Paul Tucker says: "That's probably not true. He will have a very important role in our U.S. operation, but we are not in a position to announce that [yet]." Industry observers suggest that Tucker, who has been reporting directly to Ray, would report to Schulte under such an arrangement.

Tucker spearheaded the development of the MoneyCenter terminal. "That had a lot of good things as a standalone terminal," says one observer, "but [Tucker] has never really been able to make it work on a multi-terminal installation." According to another, Schulte "understands technical issues.... If David [Ray] wanted him to run the technology side of the business, I'm sure he'd be up to it." MoneyCenter provides real-time data covering the fixed-income, money and commodities markets.

Some speculate that Schulte will head up Knight-Ridder's still- conceptual equities news and information service (see related story).

Ray didn't return a phone call seeking comment on the reorganization. But in a release, he indicated that the company hopes to draw on Schulte's London experience to "deal with the complexities and opportunities of operating internationally." Ray said that Schulte had "overseen the international division during a period of tremendous change and growth."

A spokesman for Knight-Ridder says the company doesn't release performance figures for the international division. BISD units' profit and revenue figures aren't broken out in the company's annual report, except to say that "all business information services segments were profitable in 1989."

BISD overall reported operating income of $12.1 million for 1989, up $8.8 million from a year earlier. Of the income increase, $5.7 million came from the inclusion of profits from Dialog, an online retrieval service Knight-Ridder acquired in 1988. Dialog carries both full-text and bibliographic databases.

So far, Knight-Ridder hasn't named a replacement for Roll, who is hailed as a "proven performer" by one observer. "The guy ran Tradecenter and did a very good job, and he's run the commodities division," this observer adds. Roll has been president of CID since January 1989. Prior to that, he was general manager of Tradecenter, a technical analytics service for equities, futures and fixed-income securities.

In his announcement, Ray praised Roll for "creating and implementing a revised commodities division strategic plan." Knight-Ridder officials decline to divulge details of this plan. Roll referred inquiries to the company spokesman. CID includes Commodity News Services Inc., which provides news and real-time data covering futures and options on futures.

Jordan Jumps Ship Some observers, however, question Knight-Ridder's logic in relocating Roll to Europe rather than grooming a London-based executive for the job. "I think it's awfully strange that they haven't been able to develop somebody to take over internationally in London," says one.

Meanwhile, Jordan says he's considering a number of options, including starting his own consultancy and running his own financial information services company. He also says he's looking for opportunities to get involved with management groups contemplating leveraged buyouts of data vendors, although he hasn't any particular company or group in mind.

Jordan says he left because he felt limited by the company's structure. "Basically, I've been running the North American, South American operation for Knight-Ridder and been doing that for about four-and-a-half years," he says. "With the way we're structured, I'm not going to expand beyond that to the rest of the world. So, it was just time for me to go and find a place where I can take on more of a CEO role on a worldwide basis."

Ironically, Jordan's departure comes as Knight-Ridder gears up to launch an equities product.

"Jordan was always a fish out of water, because his background was equities and he came into a product that was fixed income and commodities," says one source.