It almost sounds like a riddle: What’s a Tronc without the L.A. Times?

As the Tronc sale of the Times and the San Diego Union-Tribune finalizes, now most likely in mid-April, the next question arises: What becomes of Tronc? Its eight remaining titles own an impressive history and still play important roles in their cities: the Chicago Tribune, The Baltimore Sun, the Hartford Courant, the Orlando Sentinel, the Sun-Sentinel in South Florida, the New York Daily News, The Morning Call in Allentown, Pa., and The Daily Press in Newport, Virginia. But Tronc as a company appears at sea. Sensing “blood in the water,” several media banker firms are now actively looking for would-be buyers, several top newspaper executives have confirmed to me this week. While Tronc itself hasn’t announced any “strategic review” or the hiring of its own banker for a would-be sale, more than a half-dozen industry sources noted to me that Tronc’s recently changed circumstances point in that direction. They expect more definitive indications of a Tronc-for-sale sign this spring. When asked for comment, Tronc said, “We don’t comment on industry speculation from unnamed sources. We are focused on executing our plan for digital transformation to benefit our subscribers and shareholders.”

Liontree is among those media bankers, those newspaper executives tell me. A boutique firm run by a Aryeh Boursoff, it declined to comment this morning.

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