3. INVESTMENTS IN UNCONSOLIDATED COMPANIES

Our ownership interest and investment in unconsolidated companies consisted of the following:


(in thousands)	% Ownership	December 28,		December 29,
Company	Interest	2014		2013
CareerBuilder, LLC	15.0	$	226,965	$	214,579
Classified Ventures, LLC (see discussion below)	—		—		73,692
Other	Various		3,508		12,298
		$	230,473	$	300,569

On April 1, 2014, Classified Ventures, LLC sold its Apartments.com business for $585 million. Accordingly, during fiscal year 2014, we recorded our share of the net gain of $144.2 million, before taxes as gains related to equity investments in our consolidated statements of operations. On April 1, 2014, we received a cash distribution of $146.9 million from Classified Ventures, LLC, which is equal to our share of the net proceeds.

On October 1, 2014, we, along with Tribune Media Company, Graham Holdings Company and A. H. Belo Corporation (the “Selling Partners”) sold all of the Selling Partners’ ownership interests in Classified Ventures, LLC to Gannett Co., Inc. for a price that valued Classified Ventures, LLC at $2.5 billion. We recorded gain on sale of our ownership interest in Classified Ventures, LLC of $559.3 million, before taxes, during fourth quarter of fiscal year 2014. Our portion of the cash proceeds, net of transaction costs, was $631.8 million, or approximately $406 million, net of taxes. Pursuant to the sale agreement, $25.6 million of net proceeds is being held in escrow until October 1, 2015. Prior to the transaction closing, Classified Ventures, LLC distributed $6.0 million, representing our portion of their earnings. On October 1, 2014, we received our portion of the net cash proceeds, less the escrow amount, of $606.2 million. Upon the closing of the transaction, we entered into a new, five-year affiliate agreement with Cars.com that will allow us to continue to sell Cars.com products and services exclusively in our local markets.

On May 7, 2014, we transferred our partnership interest in McClatchy-Tribune Information Services (“MCT”) to TCA News Service, LLC (“TCA”) for cash and future newswire content. Concurrently, we entered into a contributor agreement with MCT pursuant to which we both continue to be a contributor of newswire content to MCT for an agreed upon rate and we will receive newswire content from MCT or its successor at no cost for approximately 10 years. We recognized a $3.1 million intangible asset in the consolidated balance sheets with respect to the value of the content we will receive from MCT at no cost under these agreements, and a $1.7 million gain on sale of the equity investment in gains related to equity investments in the consolidated statements of operations.

During fiscal years 2014 and 2013, we wrote‑down $7.8 million and $3.0 million, respectively, of certain unconsolidated investments. The write-down in fiscal year 2014 was primarily our interest in the Ponderay Newsprint Company.

We received dividends and other equity distributions from our investments in unconsolidated companies as follows:


	Years Ended
	December 28,		December 29,
(in thousands)	2014		2013
CareerBuilder, LLC	$	6,750	$	13,500
Classified Ventures, LLC		152,876		22,996
Other		2,700		5,940
	$	162,326	$	42,436

As described above, the $152.9 million in distributions from Classified Ventures, LLC includes distributions for $146.9 million from the sale of its Apartments.com business, as well as a distribution of $6.0 million prior to the sale of our ownership interest in Classified Ventures, LLC.

The $162.3 million in total distributions from our equity investments included $1.6 million, which exceeded the cumulative earnings from an investee and was considered a return of investment and therefore treated as an investing activity, and the remaining $160.7 million, which represented a return on investment, was shown as an operating activity in our consolidated statements of cash flows.

We have a 27% general partnership in Ponderay Newsprint Company (“Ponderay”) and we purchased some of our newsprint supply from Ponderay during fiscal years 2014, 2013 and 2012.

We have a 49.5% ownership interest The Seattle Times Company (“STC”). Our investment in STC is zero as a result of accumulative losses in previous years exceeding our carrying value. No future income or losses from STC will be recorded until our carrying value on our balance sheet is restored through future earnings by STC.

We also incurred expenses related to the purchase of products and services provided by these companies, for the uploading and hosting of online advertising on behalf of our newspapers’ advertisers. We record these expenses for CareerBuilder, LLC and Classified Ventures, LLC as a reduction to the associated digital classified advertising revenues and expenses related to Ponderay are recorded in operating expenses. The following table summarizes expenses incurred for products and services provided by unconsolidated companies:


	Years Ended
	December 28,		December 29,		December 30,
(in thousands)	2014		2013		2012
CareerBuilder, LLC	$	1,024	$	1,109	$	1,159
Classified Ventures, LLC		20,299		16,642		14,159
Ponderay (general partnership)		10,433		16,313		22,358

As of both December 28, 2014, and December 29, 2013, we had approximately $1.5 million payable collectively to CareerBuilder, LLC and Ponderay.

The tables below present the summarized financial information, as provided to us by these investees, for our investments in unconsolidated companies on a combined basis:


	December 28,		December 29,
(in thousands)	2014		2013
Current assets	$	359,349	$	479,684
Noncurrent assets		577,837		608,267
Current liabilities		247,825		320,440
Noncurrent liabilities		180,764		277,518
Equity		508,597		489,993


	Years Ended
	December 28,		December 29,		December 30,
(in thousands)	2014		2013		2012
Net revenues	$	1,368,593	$	1,512,534	$	1,427,657
Gross profit		1,155,091		1,262,104		1,179,819
Operating income		146,809		231,952		169,236
Net income		151,519		247,441		141,387