Newsday Deal Between Tribune Co and News Corp Could Be Close, Reports Say

(NewsVisual, powered by IntellectSpace) -- In what could become a model for future merger deals for the hard-pressed newspaper industry, the Tribune Co (NYSE:TRB) is apparently close to selling its property Newsday to the media empire News Corp (NYSE:NWS), according to The Wall Street Journal.

This deal would consolidate News Corp’s already existing marketshare in the greater New York area, potentially giving the company the ability to exercise new synergies.

“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, people familiar with the matter said. News Corp. would own the bulk of the combination, with Tribune retaining a stake of less than 5%,” The Journal reported in an article on Tuesday morning.

Although The Journal reports that this deal was pretty much fashioned by the two companies’ top people, Rupert Murdoch and Sam Zell, there are sets of other personal connections between the two companies that could play an important role when the merger occurs, which would make it easier for them to achieve the economies of scale that the deal proposes.

NewsVisual created an IntellectSpace Knowledge Map that illustrates the personal connections between the Tribune Co and News Corp.

Click here to see an interactive version of that IntellectSpace Knowledge Map.

(Note: the information contained and presented in Knowledge Maps is public information from the Securities and Exchange Commission of the United States of America).