Gannett’s long quest to buy the newspaper company known as Tronc is nearing the finish line.
Confidential sources have told POLITICO that asset purchase agreement drafts have been exchanged by Gannett, the country’s second-largest newspaper chain and publisher of USA Today, and Tronc, formerly known as Tribune Publishing and the publisher of such broadsheet mainstays as The Los Angeles Times, The Chicago Tribune and The Baltimore Sun. The announcement of a deal could come as soon as business opens on the fourth quarter of the year, as early as Monday morning.