Newsonomics: Tronc M, Tronc X, or Just Tronc — It’s Still in An Uncertain Position

Related column: A Tronc Tomorrow: The Return of Gannett and the Uberfication of News   Anyone looking for drama in today’s Tronc second-quarter financials was disappointed. No dramatic announcements, internally or externally — and not a peep out of Gannett of its intentions to mount a new ...

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Gannett Outlines Its New Waiting Game

Gannett CEO Bob Dickey is slowing down in his quest to acquire Tribune Publishing, but he has no plans on stopping. Today, Dickey’s Gannett took a public deep breath – and vowed to persist in its unwanted wooing of Tribune. Surprising some, Gannett put no more money on the table. The company ...

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Denverite Launches As First Of Would-Be Nationwide Digital-Only Local News Chain

Today, the news landscape in Denver gets just a little more crowded with today’s announcement of the launch of Denverite, about a month away. Denverite is part of a larger, if still tiny, local news reinvestment trend, but it is its lineage — both in funding and in thinking — that compels our ...

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With Soon-Shiong Investment, Michael Ferro Pulls Rabbit Out of His Hat

Say one thing for Michael Ferro: the would-be showbiz aficionado can certainly pull a rabbit out of a hat. The chairman of Tribune Publishing proved it again Monday when he got his board to reject much larger rival newspaper company Gannett’s second offer of $15 per share to buy the company, ...

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Tribune’s Michael Ferro: Sell to Gannett? We’ll Buy Gannett!

Tribune Publishing chairman Michael Ferro hasn’t said much in public since Gannett, the largest newspaper company in the U.S., went public with its hostile takeover bid for his company. But inside the company, publisher of a slate of struggling but nationally recognized broadsheets like The ...

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Michael Ferro Uninterruptus: Can Gannett Pry The Talkative Tribune Head From His New Chair?

Meet Michael Ferro. Ferro, 49, is not yet three months in to his stint as chairman of Tribune Publishing, the newspaper company that owns and operates such august titles as The Chicago Tribune, The Los Angeles Times and The Baltimore Sun, and he is already fending off efforts from powerful ...

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What Are They Thinking: The Millennial Gold Rush Goes Local, In Charlotte

Everyone in publishing now loves the Millennials, as well-funded startups from Mic (“What Are They Thinking: Chris Altchek’s three magic words for Mic: video-centric millennials company”) to Buzzfeed to Vice and Vox target the next generation. While media attention is riveted on national ...

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Newsonomics: The Financialization of News Is Dimming the Lights of the Local Press

There’s a nice scene in Hail, Caesar!, the Coen brothers’ latest movie, in which one Hollywood character astutely observes: “We’re not talking about money — we’re talking about economics.” Indeed. This year’s crazy-making U.S. presidential election further illuminates and blurs that divide. ...

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Tribune Publishing Prepares to Play More Defense

After a mid-month lull, the drama of Tribune Publishing’s future is becoming more public again — on both coasts, and at the mothership in Chicago — highlighting a company still on the defensive. On Sunday, recently fired L.A. Times Publisher and would-be Times buyer Austin Beutner will get a ...

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Gannett Joins the 100 club with Purchase of 15 More Dailies

Gannett may be struggling along with its peers, but it’s doubling down on the newspaper business. Today, the largest U.S. newspaper company by revenues (and second-largest globally, to News Corp.) bought 15 more dailies from the Journal Media Company. The price: $280 million, which represents a ...

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