With Market Cap Down to $200 Million, Is Tribune a Takeover Target?

Trouble between the parent and its largest holding, the Los Angeles Times, may not be an impediment. Local politicians and extremely wealthy LA citizens would like the paper to be owned locally. Based on the $250 million price that Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) chief Jeff Bezos paid for the Washington Post, the LA Times might go for $300 million to $500 million. The paper is struggling financially, but huge local financial interests may be willing to operate the paper even if it makes a small loss. Civic pride might trump purely financial interests.

If the LA Times were sold, Tribune Publishing would be cash rich. That could trigger a special dividend or share buyback.

Without the LA Times, the Tribune’s largest properties would be the Chicago Tribune and dailies in Baltimore, Orlando and Hartford. Tribune Publishing also has a large marketing arm:

Our diverse offerings also include a suite of digital, native advertising and branded entertainment services and solutions for marketers through:

• Tribune Content Agency, which provides content to publishers of all types with more than 150 products, including a daily global News Service and Premium Content syndication business;
• 435 Digital, an in-house agency that partners with local businesses to develop and execute online strategies; and
• Tribune 365, a national cross-platform sales team for Tribune Publishing Co. offering advertisers customized, innovative multi-market solutions across all media platforms, including print, online, mobile, broadcast and events;
• TribDirect, a one-stop direct-marketing solution that works with advertisers to create and execute various direct mail campaigns

As is likely with other large newspaper companies that are for sale, Tribune Publishing newspapers may be sold off one by one, depending on whether a buyer already had papers in the region. The marketing group also may be sold as a single operation. It did well last quarter. While the parent’s company’s revenue dropped to $410 million from $430 billion in the same quarter a year ago, and barely broke even with net income of $3 million:

All other revenues, including Direct Mail, Digital Marketing Services and Content Syndication, were $37 million, an increase of 7.9%, compared to the second quarter of 2014.

Based on possible interests in its individual newspapers and its mail, digital and content businesses, Tribune Publishing might be sold, even if it is part by part.

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