An auction begins today for ownership of the McClatchy Co., which owns The News and Observer and Herald Sun in the Triangle as well as The Charlotte Observer.

A winner is likely to be declared by July 15.

The auction is being overseen by a US Bankruptcy court, The New York Times reports.

“A likely outcome is that McClatchy, one of the country’s largest newspaper chains and a consistent winner of prestigious journalism awards, will be owned by a New Jersey hedge fund, Chatham Asset Management,” The Times said Monday. “Under the deal, McClatchy, a publicly traded company, would go private.”

The company operates 30 newspapers across the US.

Read the full Times report at this link.