Tribune has made two deals amidst its continuing probable-sale saga. The first one: It has tied up with news aggregator Topix.net, in which it holds a major stake along with Gannett and McClatchy. Under the deal, Topix.net’s software will power classified ads in the general merchandise category on Tribune’s newspaper sites, including the Los Angeles Times and The Baltimore Sun. These exclude autos and jobs for which Tribune already part-owns Cars.com and Careerbuilder.com respectively.
The papers will include their ads on their sites along with ones submitted directly to Topix. The companies plan to share revenue they get from advertising that will run on the classified ad pages, reports Reuters. Topix expects to make more such deals with other newspapers and sites.
The second deal is with Vmix, the San Diego-based social media platform white label firm…the online publications for Tribune properties will manage user-generated videos, photos and blogs using Vmix’s technology. Some more details in the release.