Gannett Sweetens Bid for Chicago Tribune Parent Tronc
2016年8月18日 - 11:40AM
Dow Jones News
Gannett Co. has privately sweetened its bid for Tronc Inc.,
according to people familiar with the matter, hoping to overcome
resistance to a sale from the parent of the Chicago Tribune and Los
Angeles Times.
Details of the new overture, which comes after Tronc rejected a
prior bid of $15 a share, couldn't be learned. Tronc is expected to
respond by the end of the week, some of the people said, indicating
that Gannett's long pursuit of the storied newspaper chain may soon
come to a head.
Gannett first bid in April for its smaller rival, then called
Tribune Publishing. That bid, at $12.25 a share, and the subsequent
increase were rejected by Tronc, whose Chairman Michael W. Ferro
Jr. has repeatedly said the company is worth more.
Gannett, owner of USA Today, has been seeking to build scale in
a newspaper industry suffering from steep declines in advertising
revenue. It made its move for Tronc just after competing the $280
million acquisition of Journal Media Group, a deal that added daily
newspapers in nine states.
Gannett reported a 77% net income decline in the last
quarter.
Tronc, which also owns the Orlando Sentinel and Baltimore Sun
among other titles, has a market value of $550 million after its
shares soared as a result of Gannett's interest.
One of its largest investors, Oaktree Capital Management, has
urged the company to negotiate with Gannett and accused its board
of acting contrary to the best interests of public stockholders
when it sold Mr. Ferro a large block of shares in February and
subsequently named him chairman.
Gannett raised its offer in May and urged Tribune investors to
withhold support at the company's annual meeting from Mr. Ferro and
other directors, many of whom are associates of his. About 40% of
Tribune shareholders withheld votes from Mr. Ferro and Chief
Executive Justin Dearborn.
Tribune in June unveiled its new name. It is an acronym of sorts
for Tribune Online Content, reflecting a new digital focus for the
169-year-old publisher, which now bills itself as a "content
curation and monetization company."
With its 100-plus small-and midmarket dailies in addition to USA
Today, Gannett already is by far the largest newspaper publisher by
circulation in the country. Adding Tronc'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.
Lukas I. Alpert contributed to this article.
Write to Liz Hoffman at liz.hoffman@wsj.com and Dana Cimilluca
at dana.cimilluca@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
August 17, 2016 22:25 ET (02:25 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Oaktree Capital (NYSE:OAK)
過去 株価チャート
から 6 2024 まで 7 2024
Oaktree Capital (NYSE:OAK)
過去 株価チャート
から 7 2023 まで 7 2024