By Roger Yu | USA TODAY
Gannett Co., which owns USA TODAY and more than 100 local news properties nationwide (including The Arizona Republic), said Monday it raised its offer to buy Tribune Publishing Co. to $15 per share, dialing up the pressure after its earlier bid was rejected by Tribune’s board of directors despite some shareholders’ call for a negotiation.
The revised offer values Tribune (TPUB), which owns the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune and nine other dailies, at about $479 million. Gannett (GCI) also offered to assume about $385 million of Tribune’s debt, valuing the total deal at about $864 million.