San Francisco/New York — The long-awaited merger between Gannett Co, the publisher of USA Today, and Tronc, the publisher of the Chicago Tribune and the Los Angeles Times, fell apart on Tuesday after months of talks. The abandonment of Gannett’s bid comes as the newspaper industry looks to consolidate in the face of declining circulation, rising costs, shrinking advertising revenue and a shift to digital content. Tronc, whose shares closed down more than 12% at $10.54, said on Tuesday that a deal was agreed to in mid-September with Gannett, but Gannett later informed Tronc that its financing had encountered "an unexpected delay". Tronc CEO Justin Dearborn, speaking on the company’s third-quarter earnings conference call, said Tronc found out that Gannett had backed out of negotiations after six months of talks and a due diligence process dating back to June. Earlier, a Gannett spokesman said a number of financing options were available, but the leading US newspaper publisher by circ...
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