Gannett Ends Its Attempt to Buy Tronc
November 01 2016 - 9:20AM
Dow Jones News
Newspaper company Gannett Co. has dropped its bid to buy Chicago
Tribune and Los Angeles Times publisher Tronc Inc., ending a
monthslong pursuit of its rival.
In a one-line statement Tuesday, Gannett said it had been
engaged in discussions with Tronc but determined not to pursue the
transaction any longer.
Gannett's stock rose 9.4% to $8.50 premarket as Tronc fell 29%
to $8.51, well below Gannett's initial takeover offer of $12.25 a
share in cash, which had since been boosted.
The news that a deal is off comes after The Wall Street Journal
reported in August that Gannett had privately sweetened its bid for
Tronc, which in May rejected a boosted $15 a share offer. Gannett
first made a bid for Tronc in April, when it was then called
Tribune Publishing.
A transaction would have been the latest amid a flurry of
newspaper deals. Gannett has been seeking to build scale in a
newspaper industry suffering from steep declines in advertising
revenue. A combined company would have joined titles such as
Gannett's USA Today with the Chicago Tribune and Los Angeles
Times.
Write to Joshua Jamerson at joshua.jamerson@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
November 01, 2016 09:05 ET (13:05 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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