Say, a Gannett-tronc deal may yet happen

Reading all the news accounts, you’d think it was a personal thing, a romance that went sour before it even began.

Gannett pursues tronc, the newspaper company formerly known as Tribune, seeking to buy the troubled chain, which owns the Chicago Tribune and the Los Angeles Times, among others.

tronc says no, then no a few more times, pouting that Gannett’s offer was an insult. Then it adopts a “poison pill” to make a hostile takeover extremely difficult.

But Gannett’s persistence may finally net a “yes.”

Word is the two companies are close to agreeing on a $673 million merger, working out to about $18.50 per share, roughly $6 per share more than what Gannett offered in May.

Bloomberg reports the two are in active negotiations to hammer out the final terms of the deal, but cautions it could still fall through.

Thawing of relations

But the deal is likely to go through at some point, and as much as anything it reflects the changing economics of the newspaper industry.

Newspapers have been struggling, and tronc has been struggling more than most, with deep layoffs, a recent coup at the top of the company, and years of sluggish advertising weighing the company down.

In the meantime, Gannett, has been buying up papers, looking to leverage the advantages of size in trimming costs and lifting profits.

Gannett is already the nation’s largest newspaper publisher, owning more than 100 dailies, most of them in smaller markets. Adding tronc’s papers to its portfolio will give it a presence in major markets as well.

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