Tronc is soaring after a report Softbank is interested in buying the publisher

Markets Insider

• SoftBank may bid for the publishing company Tronc, Axios reported Monday.
• Shares of Tronc spiked 12% on the news.
• Follow Tronc's stock price in real-time here.

Shares of Tronc, short for Tribune Online Content, spiked more than 12% Monday after Axios' Dan Primack reported Japan's SoftBank is one of several potential buyers for the publishing company.

Tronc is the digital content offshoot of the former Tribune Company, which stemmed from the Chicago Tribune newspaper and eventually expanded to the Los Angeles Times and others. When the company announced the new name in June 2016 it was met with much online ridicule and a stock price boost.

More recently, however, the stock took a hit after Gannett Media, publisher of USA Today, said it would not pursue any further bids to buy Tronc.

SoftBank's interest in Tronc makes sense given the investment firm's purchase of Fortress Investment Group last year, according to Axios. The acquisition brought one of the US' largest local newspaper chains - GateHouse Media and its 142 daily titles - into SoftBank's arsenal.

Earlier this year, the company sold off the Los Angeles Times to billionaire Los Angeles physician Patrick Soon-Shiong. Staff of the paper have been at odds with management and voted overwhelmingly to form a union last month.

Shares of Tronc are up 4.5% so far in 2018.

Read the full Axios report here>>