“Since the cash and stock deal was unveiled on Aug. 5, the biggest single barrier to getting it done has been the fast and furious erosion of New Media [GateHouse] stock, which will be used to help pay for Gannett. The stock’s closing price of $7.13 on Tuesday is well below its pre-deal price of $10.70 a share. The plunge has lowered the value of the offer from the original $1.4 billion to just over $1.1 billion.” (By midday today, it had
dropped further to $6.68.)
—JB
