Despite speculation to the contrary, Gannett Co., the publisher of USA Today, threw cold water on Thursday's rabble-rousing concerning a sale of the company, according to a Reuters story. The news of the possibility of a sale — which appeared not only on The Wall Street Journal's Deal Journal, as the Reuters story exclusively cites, but also here on Dealscape along with The New York Times' Dealbook and other finance and media blogs — were prompted by a SEC filing that included a change in the company's transitional compensation plan. Reuters evidently followed the lead, only to find out that the company issued a memo on Friday saying it wasn't for sale. However, Reuters failed to ask Gannett CEO Craig Dubow if the company might sell select assets, as Dealscape suggested was a more likely scenario than an outright sale given the company's steep market cap of $11 billion and current market circumstances. —Matthew Wurtzel
See story from Reuters
See earlier post from Dealscape
Tags: Gannett, media, newspapers, deals, m&a, mergers
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I don't know.... the bloggers sounded pretty convincing. I found this one especially interesting: http://www.newsvisual.com/newsvisual/2007/08/ties-between-ge.html. GE was rumored to be likely to perform the takeover, and this article shows some pretty good connections between the companies. IF Gannett ever was interested in being sold, I'd still put my money on GE as the buyer.