Gannett, Gatehouse talking merger

This was a Lee shop, but I've had them at GateHouse as well. It's a thing.

 

In Fort Lauderdale we once had an ad slogan that read, "Required reading for the life you're leading."

Which we privately referred to as "Required reading because we went to the meeting."

 

GCI still bouncing off 52-week lows, but hasn’t yet climbed back into the $4s today. Buy the dip!

 

I would not buy the dip.

Gannett had EBITDA last year ran around 425 million dollars after you added back the non-cash losses, acquisition costs and the 89 million pension payout.

Buffett sold his newspapers to Lee for less than four times EBITDA (and Buffett financed the transaction for Lee and rand agreed to refinance over 400 millions of Lee debt at a lower interest rate).

Gannett has 2.3 billion dollars of long-term debt. So long-tern debt over five times EBITDA. One could argue that Gannett is underwater. I think that Gannett is going to pay the dividend of 66 cents a share for the next two years then go into Chapter 11. So I think the stock is worth no more than two dollars a share.

 

Buy the dip??!! NY Times just said the Coronavirus is hitting ad sales! I’m just hoping the ad revenue decline is not similar to the Great Recession plunge. If it is, that will be the end of print and maybe some online news sites.
Virus Scare Hits N.Y. Times Ad Sales, Dragging Down Publishers

 

I have been a part of that scenario more than once unfortunately.

 

New 52-week low of $3.35 amid today’s market plunge. $12 buyout seems so long ago but only six months back. I doubt New Gannett will survive if this is the start of another 2008-09 recession.

 

The next chapter in the saga of The New Gannett: 11.

 

More bad news:
https://www.bizjournals.com/boston/...nnett-fell-by-13-in.html?ana=yahoo&yptr=yahoo

 

Remember the CEO said that the company is 20% through a 300 million dollar cost reduction program so there is much more to come.

And a note to PMO: Best of luck to you in getting back into journalism. But don't take a job at Gannett. Your career expectancy with the company would be very low.

 

Agreed. Try your best to get into a privately held company not owned by hedge funds or incompetent chains. There are only a few out there, but those are the slowest sinking ships.

 

On the TV side....

Byron Allen Makes $8.5B Cash Bid For Broadcaster Tegna – Deadline