Tribune to sell two papers to Gannett: paper

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Media group Tribune Co. plans to sell two small Connecticut newspapers to newspaper publisher Gannett Co. Inc. for more than $65 million, the Washington Post reported on Friday.

Gannett and Tribune officials declined to comment.

The report comes as Tribune weighs options including asset sales and going private. Its largest shareholder, the Chandler Trusts, urged the company last year to break itself up or consider a sale.

Tribune plans to decide before the end of March.

Gannett outbid privately held MediaNews Group for the Greenwich Time and The Advocate in Stamford, Connecticut, although details of the deal were still being discussed, the report said, citing a source familiar with the sale.

The Los Angeles Times and The Wall Street Journal previously reported that Gannett was eyeing the papers, which cover news in the affluent coastal Connecticut towns.

Tribune sought as much as $75 million for the Connecticut papers and $25 million more for their real estate, which is likely to be sold to third parties, the report said.

Tribune's properties include the Chicago Cubs baseball team, the Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Tribune, the Baltimore Sun and Newsday, as well as television stations.

Gannett owns the Norwich Bulletin in Connecticut and the Journal News in Westchester County, New York, and the proximity of those markets to those of Tribune's Connecticut papers would allow it to combine resources and save money, the report said.

"They're very good newspapers," said Benchmark Co. analyst Ed Atorino. "They fit the Gannett strategy, which is to own brand-name, small-market newspapers."

A sale would leave Tribune with one newspaper in Connecticut, the larger Hartford Courant. An investor group is interested in buying the Courant. Real estate firm executive Cheryl Chase, who is in the group, was not immediately available for comment.

Gannett shares fell 79 cents, or 1.29 percent, to $60.42 on the New York Stock Exchange. Tribune shares fell 14 cents, or less than 1 percent, to $30.