TEGNA to sell CareerBuilder stake for $250M

TEGNA, a TV broadcasting station operator, said Monday it has agreed to sell most of its controlling stake in job search website CareerBuilder for about $250 million to an investor group led by Apollo Global Management and the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board.

TEGNA, which used to be called Gannett before the company spun off its newspaper division as a separately traded company in 2015, will use the funds from the sale to pay off existing debt and for other general corporate purposes, it said. The spun-off newspaper company, which named itself Gannett, owns USA TODAY.

TEGNA, which owns 53% of CareerBuilder, will have its stake reduced to 12.5% after the sale and will remain "an ongoing partner."

The deal is is expected to close in the third quarter of 2017.

Based in McLean, Va., TEGNA has been shedding its non-core digital businesses in recent weeks. On June 1, the company completed spinning off Cars.com, a car research and shopping site. After the spin-off was completed, Dave Lougee replaced Gracia Martore as the company's CEO.

In the first quarter, TEGNA Digital, the unit that operates Cars.com and CareerBuilder, reported a 1.7% revenue decline to $332.2 million.

A 1.4% revenue drop at CareerBuilder -- due to lower job site advertising and resume database revenues -- offset "a modest increase" in revenue at Cars.com, the company said.