GCI New Gannett Co Inc

Gannett Co. Chief Executive Bob Dickey didn't waste any time.

On Gannett's first full day as an independent newspaper company following a spinoff last year, Mr. Dickey called Journal Media Group Chairman Steven Smith to say he wanted to buy the company.

Journal Media had completed its own spinoff only three months earlier and Mr. Smith said such talk might be premature, according to a regulatory filing detailing the conversation. But Mr. Dickey wouldn't take no for an answer. Within three months, the deal was signed for Gannett to acquire Journal Media's 15 daily papers, including the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, for $280 million.

Gannett's pursuit of Journal Media proved to be a template for its next target: Tribune Publishing Co., owner of the Los Angeles Times and Chicago Tribune. Just days after the Journal Media deal closed in April, Mr. Dickey approached Tribune with an unsolicited offer of $12.25 a share, a 63% premium at the time. Tribune, which had just installed a new management team, rejected the "opportunistic" offer, but that hasn't stopped Mr. Dickey.

On Monday, Gannett boosted its bid to $15 a share, valuing Tribune at about $475 million, plus the assumption of debt. Tribune shares rose 23% to $14.10 in midday trading.

The newfound aggressiveness has become the hallmark for Gannett after its June split from TV properties. The publisher of USA Today has been transformed under Mr. Dickey from a corporate giant often derided for churning out "McPapers" into a rapacious acquirer of vulnerable rivals.

"Bob has a mandate from his board to make Gannett a major player in the consolidation of this industry," said a person who was involved in the Journal Media negotiations. "He had a list of companies they were interested in right from day one."

Buying print publications might seem counterintuitive for an industry in steep decline, but Mr. Dickey believes there is value in building a bigger network of brands that can share more costs and serve as a more powerful platform for advertisers both in print and online. Plus, newspaper prices are at record lows.

Mr. Dickey, who started his career at Gannett in ad sales nearly 30 years ago, also has a sense of urgency. Gannett hasn't been spared in the industry's upheaval as readers and advertising shift online. The company's ad revenue fell 12% in the first quarter, dragging down earnings even as Gannett slashed overhead costs.

A soft-spoken and detail-oriented news executive, the 58-year-old Mr. Dickey's emergence as a hard-driving deal-maker has raised eyebrows among many who know him.

"Bob has a reputation as a conservative and collegial operator, and many in the industry have been surprised to find Gannett involved in a takeover" attempt of Tribune, said Jim Friedlich, head of Empirical Media, a media consultancy group. "That said, the business logic and benefit of this merger are so strong that they appear to have overcome any reservations about going hostile."

Pursuing Tribune was something of a course alteration for Gannett after Mr. Dickey said last year the company would pursue papers in smaller markets. But while doing due diligence for the Journal Media deal, Gannett decided to adjust its approach.

"The great thing about strategies is that they can be changed," Mr. Dickey said shortly after making the offer to Tribune.

With its 107 small- and mid-market dailies, Gannett already is by far the largest newspaper publisher by circulation in the country. Adding Tribune's papers would give it control of nearly 20% of a market in which 41 million papers are sold every day, according to the Alliance for Audited Media.

Tribune says it is reviewing the sweetened offer. The two sides exchanged nasty letters after Gannett's initial bid became public and didn't meet in person until last week. Mr. Dickey and Gannett Chairman John Jeffry Louis flew to Chicago to sit down with Tribune's new chairman, Michael W. Ferro Jr., and its new CEO, Justin Dearborn, at the offices of Tribune's lawyers, Kirkland & Ellis LLP.

Over the course of the two-hour meeting, Messrs. Ferro and Dearborn detailed their digital turnaround strategy. Mr. Ferro said he was willing to consider a merger in which he became the largest single shareholder, a person familiar with the matter said. In an email, Mr. Ferro said, "I learned a lot and thought it was pretty productive for all parties."

Mr. Dickey said his team walked away feeling the meeting was unproductive. "We did listen to Michael and his strategy and frankly we did not come away with a lot of confidence that what he has outlined can be done effectively," Mr. Dickey said in an interview.

He said that as much as Gannett wants the Tribune deal to go through, the company is "looking at other opportunities," although Tribune remains "our primary focus."

Given Tribune's adoption of a so-called poison pill to help fend off hostile takeovers, the only way Gannett can force the issue is by waiting until next year to nominate a slate of directors. Gannett already missed the deadline for this year.

Gannett has been urging Tribune shareholders to withhold their votes for the board at the annual meeting in June, to pressure management to enter negotiations.

One major Tribune shareholder, Oaktree Capital Group, has publicly urged Tribune's board to engage in talks.

Write to Lukas I. Alpert at lukas.alpert@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 16, 2016 15:45 ET (19:45 GMT)

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