Gannett, on the market?!?!?

Wall Street Journal says Gannett making moves that indicate a sale might be happening.

http://blogs.wSportsJournalists.com/deals/2007/08/09/is-gannett-girding-for-a-sale/

My first thought was, "whoa."

 

Mr. Murdoch.

Paging Rupert Murdoch.

 

More like Lee Enterprises or Singleton given his previous dealings with Gannett.

 

I don't think Singleton has the capital for that kind of acquisition, although he did make rumblings about getting bigger portions of KRT, so......

 

The stock sure could use a Murdoch-size goosing.

I'd be happy to get out (of at least half of mine) if rumors or lies or whatever would drive the price back to the $80-90 range.

Dream on, I guess.

 

Lee stock has tanked the last year or so. Not sure they have the up-front cash for such a massive purchase. Maybe they'd cherry-pick, though, and completely dominate Iowa, Illinois, Wisconsin and Montana.

 

I'm going to find some citizen journalists to get to the bottom of this.

 

It makes sense in that the company is as cheap as it has been in a long time or as cheap as it figures to be for a while. But I can't figure out who'd be a potential buyer.

 

That's the kicker, as far as I'm concerned. I can't imagine who would shell out that kind of money. Seems like they would have to sell a lot of individual properties to make it feasible.

 

Private. Equity. Firm.

 

Maybe somebody can take out a subprime mortgage on Gannett. That'll do it.

 

That WSJ hints at managers buying Gannett. I would also think if Dow Jones were to sell Ottaway, as also mentioned at Romenesko, Gannett would be a player.