$1.4B buyout bid for owner of Lohud
Gannett chain includes USA Today, other papers
The owner of USA Today, the Journal News and Lohud received an unsolicited buyout offer for nearly $1.4 billion from a holding company with some 200 U.S. publications.
Denver-based MNG Enterprises offered Gannett investors $12 for their shares, stating the goal of growing its newspaper business over time. Gannett is based in McLean, Va. and publishes the Journal News and its companion Lohud.com website from offices in White Plains, N.Y. just over the Greenwich line, having bought predecessor newspapers more than a half-century ago.
Other Gannett publications in the region include the Record in Bergen, N.J., the Poughkeepsie Journal and the Burlington Free Press in Vermont; with prominent national newspapers including the Detroit Free Press and the Arizona Republic.
Gannett’s board issued a statement Monday morning indicating it will weigh the offer, with the board chaired by John Jeffry Louis III. At last report, a quintet of funds controlled Gannett, led by Vanguard Group and BlackRock.
Doing business as Digital First Media and backed by Alden Global Capital, MNG’s publications include the Boston Herald, the San Jose Mercury News, the Orange County Register and the Denver Post, with the company having cut newspaper staffing significantly to bring expenses in line with revenue.
Gannett went public two years ago, with its shares down more than 40 percent on the eve of the MNG offer and the company having yet to announce a replacement for its CEO Bob Dickey who is stepping down in May.
In November, Dickey indicated Gannett 2018 results were impacted by a reorganization of its local sales operations, with the company predicting $2.9 billion in revenue in 2018, which would be off from $3.1 billion one year earlier.