USA Today publisher targeted for buyout


FILE - In this July 14, 2010, file photo, the Gannett Co.headquarters sign stands in McLean, Va. The Wall Street Journal is reporting that MNG Enterprises, better known as Digital First Media, is preparing to bid for newspaper publisher Gannett ... more >


By The Associated Press - Associated Press - Monday, January 14, 2019

DENVER (AP) - The publisher of USA Today has received a $1.36 billion buyout bid from a media group with a history of taking over struggling newspapers and slashing jobs.

MNG Enterprises, better known as Digital First Media, said in a letter to Gannett Co.

Monday that its leadership team has failed to show that it can run the company effectively.

The newspaper industry has shrunk and consolidated as readers ditch print papers and go online. Estimated U.S. daily newspaper circulation, print and digital combined, fell 11 percent to 31 million in 2017, according to the Pew Research Center. As recently as 2000, weekday subscriptions totaled 55.8 million.

In just the last three years, employment in newsrooms has fallen 15 percent.

The Wall Street Journal was first to report that the hedge-fund backed MNG has built up a 7.5 percent stake in Gannett, and that it has been rebuffed repeatedly by the company about a sale.

Gannett said Monday that it has received the offer and it’s under review.

 https://www.washingtontimes.com/news...a-today-owner/