Report: Gannett, GateHouse Media in Merger Talks

Newspaper publisher Gannett Co. GCI has recently held merger talks with GateHouse Media a deal that would bring together the two newspaper groups, reports the Wall Street Journal.

Over the past decade, both companies have struggled with advertising and print readership declines leading to substantial layoffs. Gannett owns 109 daily newspapers including the Arizona Republic, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and the Indianapolis Star.

GateHouse's parent is New Media Investment Group Inc. NEWM, which is operated by private-equity firm Fortress Investment Group LLC.

According to the WSJ report, Gannett defeated Digital First Media in a proxy fight and has also been speaking recently with others about potential deals, including Tribune Publishing Co. and McClatchy Co.

Gannett shares spiked higher Thursday morning and traded around at $7.74 at time of publication. New Media's stock was trading up 5.7 percent at $9.10 per share.