The San Jose Mercury News is a likely takeover target of Gannett, the Wall Street Journal says.

The story is based on comments by Gannett CEO Robert Dickey that he has assembled a team of banking and legal advisers to pursue deals in markets with populations between one and three million people.

“We are aggressively pursuing all the opportunities in front of us,” he said.

The Journal says: “The list of newspapers in markets of over one million people is short. One such title, the San Jose Mercury News, was recently put on the block by owner Digital First Media along with its 75 other daily newspapers, but all were taken off the market in May.”