News Corp. Nears Deal to Buy Newsday

Apparently, the Tribune Company is closing in on an agreement to sell its Long Island newspaper Newsday to News Corp. for about $580 million. Final details are being hammered out and a deal could yet fall apart, but Tribune and News Corp. have informally agreed on key aspects, including the price, structure and governance. Under the terms being discussed, Newsday would be part of a joint venture with News Corp.'s New York Post and various non-newspaper assets owned by News Corp which would own the bulk of the combination, with Tribune retaining a stake of less than 5%. If a deal is struck, it would be Tribune's first major newspaper sale since Chicago real-estate magnate Sam Zell took effective control of the company in December. Zell has been exploring ways to pare the company's heavy debt load, which piled up after it was taken private in an $8.2 billion buyout. It would be the second newspaper acquisition by News Corp. in several months, following the company's $5.16 billion acquisition of The Wall Street Journal's parent, Dow Jones, in December. The Newsday joint venture is expected to wipe out as much as $50 million in annual losses News Corp. now incurs on the Post, with the combined Newsday-Post operation earning roughly $50 million
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120883219590433735.html?mod=todays_us_marketplace
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Tribune agrees to sell Newsday to Murdoch company, source says (Reuters)
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-na-newsday22apr22,1,5361665.story