A hostile takeover of the Poughkeepsie Journal's parent company could lead to a merger of both newspapers.

MNG Enterprises, also known as Digital First Media, made an aggressive bid to purchase Gannett on Monday. According to CNN, the media group offered $12 per share of the struggling newspaper company, well above its current value.

MNG is run by a hedge fund which swoops in to buy distressed companies. They are known for making aggressive cuts and streamlining operations of these companies in hopes of turning them around financially. The Daily Freeman was purchased by MHG 10 years ago and it looks like the Poughkeepsie Journal may be next.

Gannett has lost more than 40 percent of their value in the past two years. In a letter to Gannett's board of directors, MNG says that the team leading Gannett "has not demonstrated that it's capable of effectively running this enterprise as a public company."

In recent years the Gannet-owned Poughkeepsie Journal has seen some major changes. Staff cuts have left fewer employees in the Poughkeepsie office. After a recent round of downsizing, the paper was left without a local editor. The Journal is currently run by the editor of the Journal News in Westchester.

If Gannett is to be taken over by MNG it's unclear what would happen to either of the local newspapers. Whether both papers would continue to operate as usual or merge together to create one singular regional newspaper is yet to be known. Regardless of the outcome, it's certain that big changes will likely happen if the hostile takeover goes through.

An earlier version of this story incorrectly identified the Times Herald Record as a newspaper owned by MNG. That has been corrected.

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