Gannett Co Inc, one of the newspaper owners of Cars.com, is nearing an agreement to purchase the portion of the auto-sales website that it does not already own for $1.8 billion, people familiar with the matter said on Monday.The deal, which a source said could be announced as early as Tuesday, would be the latest step for Gannett, the largest U.S. newspaper chain and publisher of USA Today, to diversify its business away from newspapers.Gannett has been snapping up broadcast TV stations to bolster its portfolio against declining advertising revenue and newspaper readership. It spent $1.5 billion on buying the broadcaster Belo last year, nearly doubling its broadcast TV holdings to more than 40 stations.The deal will also bolster Gannett's digital portfolio, which includes a stake in the recruitment website CareerBuilder.
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 $34.44. On average, 1949250 shares of GCI exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 3993821.
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