Tribune Publishing ends sale talks with McClatchy, source says

CHICAGO -- Tribune Publishing, which owns both The Virginian-Pilot and the Daily Press, has terminated negotiations to sell the Chicago-based newspaper company to McClatchy, a source familiar with the matter said Thursday.

The decision, reached Thursday by the Tribune Publishing board, followed several months of negotiations with the California-based McClatchy Co. The source said potential antitrust issues in Florida, where McClatchy owns the Miami Herald and Tribune Publishing owns the nearby Sun-Sentinel, ultimately derailed a deal between the two companies. Putting both newspapers under the McClatchy corporate umbrella would have created economic synergies important to the deal but there were concerns it wouldn’t pass muster with federal regulators, multiple sources said.

Both Tribune Publishing spokeswoman Marisa Kollias and McClatchy spokeswoman Jeanne Segal declined to comment Thursday.

McClatchy, a publicly traded company that owns more than 30 newspapers in 14 states, emerged as a potential buyer in September, and was among three suitors to submit a formal bid by Tribune Publishing’s deadline of Nov. 1. Bids from the two other groups — New York-based investment firm Donerail and Dallas-based newspaper group Aim Media — remain on the table, the source said.

Read more: https://pilotonline.com/business/article_3a555504-ff14-11e8-bd37-7fe622cde5d4.html