Knight-Ridder, the San Jose Newspapers: Publishing & Printing company is looking to be taken over. Will major buyout firms like KKR keep the two female directors or swap out all of the firm’s board?

Two out of ten of the firm’s directors are women:

PATRICIA MITCHELL, age 62
Director since 2002
President and Chief Executive Officer, Public Broadcasting Service

Ms. Mitchell has served as the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Public Broadcasting Service, a private, nonprofit corporation whose members are American public television stations, since March 2000. Prior to that she served as President of CNN Productions and Time Inc. Television at Time Warner from 1992 to 2000. Ms. Mitchell serves as a director of Bank of America Corporation and is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Sundance Institute and the Women’s Leadership Advisory Council of the Kennedy School of Government.

KATHLEEN FOLEY FELDSTEIN, age 63
Director since 1998
President, Economics Studies, Inc.

Ms. Feldstein has served as President of Economics Studies, Inc., a private consulting firm, since 1987. She serves as a director of Bell South Corporation, Ionics Corporation and BlackRock Closed End Mutual Funds. She is also a Trustee of the Committee for Economic Development, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and McLean Hospital.

Arden Realty, Inc. (NYSE:ARI) is a buyout target of GE Capital. Arden is a self-administered, self-managed REIT that owns, manages, leases, develops, renovates and acquires commercial office properties located in Southern California. Arden is the largest publicly traded office landlord in Southern California, with 116 properties, consisting of 192 buildings and approximately 18.5 million net rentable square feet of office space.

No big loss of women directors here as there are zero women on the 7 man board of Arden.

Maxtor (NYSE: MXO)of Milpitas, CA will be bought out by Seagate (Scotts Valley, CA). Another no big loss of women directors: zero women on Maxtor's 6 director board. Maxtor's board asked Paul J. Tufano, it's largest share-holding board member, to resign November 2004 and director Roger W. Johnson died in February of 2005. Three directors were relected in 2005:

Dr. C.S. Park – CEO, Board Chairman – Director since 1994 – Class I – term expires 2008 – age 57
Charles F. Christ – Director since 1995 – Class I – term expires 2008 – age 66
Gregory E. Myers – Director since 2003 – Class I – term expires 2008 – age 54

Three others had terms expiring in 2006/2007:

Charles M. Bosenberg – Lead Director – since 2003 – Class III – term expires 2007 – age 56
Michael R. Cannon – Director since 1996 – Class III – term expires 2007 – age 52
Charles Hill – Director since 1992 – Class II – term expires 2006 – age 68

While Maxtor was slowly imploding on itself, San Jose Magazine named it one of the top 44 "best places to work" in Silicon Valley:

"Maxtor is noted for numerous perks in an article entitled "Benefits beyond the Fringe" in the magazine's November issue -- including health and dental coverage, telecommuting, on-site gym, on-site cafeteria, tuition reimbursement, service awards, employee assistance program, lactation room, dry cleaning, health and wellness seminars, and discount tickets to local attractions. The magazine also cites Maxtor's support of employee volunteerism in paying for four hours per month for workers volunteering at non-profits."