US newspaper giant Gannett on Monday announced an $815 million bid for rival Tribune Publishing to create a powerhouse combining USA Today with the Los Angeles Times and Chicago Tribune. The plan would bring together two large newspaper groups which have been spun off from larger media conglomerates amid woes in an industry suffering from a loss of print circulation and advertising as readers shift to digital.
The plan "would deliver substantial strategic and financial benefits for the combined company," said Gannett chairman John Jeffry Louis. Gannett chief executive Robert Dickey said the deal "would bring together two highly complementary organisations with a shared goal of providing trusted, premium content for the readers and communities we serve." Gannett, spun off from its parent group last year, operates more than 100 newspapers including its national flagship USA Today.
The deal would add to this empire major metropolitan dailies in Los Angeles and Chicago as well as the Baltimore Sun, Orlando Sentinel, Hartford Courant and others. A Gannett statement said the offer had been rejected by Tribune Publishing, but urged the board of directors to reconsider, saying that the proposal offered a premium to the most recent stock price and could "create a company with the financial stability and flexibility equipped to preserve journalistic integrity, high standards and excellence for years to come."
However, Tribune Publishing said only that it had received the proposal and would respond "as quickly as feasible." The group was spun off the larger Tribune Co in 2014, and has been examining options such as the sale of the coveted Los Angeles daily. Media analyst Ken Doctor said that for Gannett, the deal represents "a real big reach to become the national newspaper company of the United States."