Nation’s Largest Paper Chains Talk Merger in Ad Revenue Push

Five of the nation’s largest — and battered — newspaper chains are in hush-hush talks about banding together to form a new company to sell ads to national advertisers in 30 major metro markets.   Gannett, Newhouse-owned Advance Publications, the family-owned Hearst Corp., McClatchy Newspapers and Tribune Co. are the companies huddling.