Newspapers Gobble Each Other Up to Survive Digital Apocalypse

Newspapers have settled on a strategy to stop withering away: feast on each other for survival.

For the owners of big-city dailies like the Chicago Tribune and Denver Post, buying smaller publications and slashing costs has become a way to buy time while figuring out how to make more money online. That was the logic behind the recent failed attempt by Tribune Publishing Co., owner of the Los Angeles Times, to buy two Southern California newspapers.

Last year, the industry saw the most deals for the largest amount of money since the 2008 financial crisis, with 70 daily newspapers being sold for a combined $827 million, according to mergers-and-acquisitions adviser Dirks, Van Essen & Murray. Gannett Co. bought 15 dailies, including the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel; Tribune snapped up the San Diego Union-Tribune; and Warren Buffett’s newspaper chain acquired the Free Lance–Star in Fredericksburg, Virginia.

Even after last year’s surge of activity, more deals may be coming. The pressure to combine is only expected to grow because several media companies have spun off their lucrative TV stations, leaving newspapers to fend for themselves. In the past few years, Tribune, Gannett and News Corp. have been decoupled from their broadcast and TV operations.

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