Gannett Co Inc, one of the newspaper owners of Cars.com, is near an agreement to purchase out the part of the auto-sales website that it does not already own for $1.8 billion, a source familiar with the matter said on Monday.This would be the latest step for Gannett to diversify its business away from newspapers. Gannett, the largest U.S. newspaper chain and publisher of USA Today, has been snapping up broadcast TV stations to bolster its portfolio against declining advertising revenue and readership at its newspapers. It spent $1.5 billion on buying the broadcaster Belo last year.Gannett is one of the five newspaper publishers that back Classified Ventures, the entity that owns Cars.com. Cars.com helps people buy and sell cars on the Internet.Reuters reported in May that Gannett was exploring a bid for the entire company. Bloomberg News first reported on Monday that Gannett had agreed to a deal.
Gannett Co., Inc., is an international media and marketing solutions company, delivering content and services across an integrated, multiplatform portfolio. Shares of GCI traded higher by 4.38% or $1.44/share to $34.32. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $23.75 and as high as $34.08. On average, 1913050 shares of GCI exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 3993821.
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