In an attempt to become the largest publisher of newspapers in the country, Alden Global Capital, a New York hedge fund that controls Digital First Media, is making a $1.4 billion bid to purchase Gannett Co., which owns USA Today, writes Bob Fernandez for The Philadelphia Inquirer.

The deal would strengthen the fund’s hold on the suburban Philadelphia newspaper market, as the Daily Local News, Delaware County Daily Times, Norristown Times Herald, and Pottstown Mercury are all Digital First Media papers.

“Gannett can’t just say go away,” said Ken Doctor, a media analyst with consulting firm Newsonomics. “They have to consider it.”

Locally, Digital First Media has closed and sold newspaper buildings and consolidated and cut staff.

In the last six years, the staff at the Times-Herald, Daily Times, and Mercury has been reduced by 73 percent, 78 percent, and 83 percent, respectively. In 2016, the company sold the Daily Times building and five acres in Upper Darby for $2 million.

Click here to read more about Alden Global Capital’s bid to buy Gannett Co. in The Philadelphia Inquirer.

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