Yesterday we reported on the Augusta-based Morris Communications Co. sale of the Augusta Chronicle along with 10 other daily and non-daily newspaper holdings and other related publications to GateHouse Media Inc. for $120 million.
Morris says the transaction is part of the company’s strategic restructuring to focus its business on lifestyle and niche publications, broadband operations, property development and new business. It is expected to be finalized on October 2nd. But now the focus turns to GateHouse, its business model and its future plans.
“This little-talked-about, won’t-talk-to-the-press newspaper chain owns more daily newspapers than any other U.S. publisher — likely more than any other publisher in the world,” writes Ken Doctor for the neimanlab.org website. “And with a market value of $800 million, it stands second only to Gannett’s ($1 billion) among public newspaper firms. (Tronc stands at about $500 million, Lee Enterprises at $145 million, A.H. Belo at $135 million, and McClatchy at $89 million.)
Writing just last February, Doctor continued: …(T)he company plans to extend its strategy— buy more papers, monetize those readers better through Propel (its fast-growing marketing services business) and other initiatives, and continue to cut, cut, cut those newsroom staffs.” Indeed, numerous GateHouse papers “have cut more newsroom staff just since the beginning of the year (2017),” Doctor reports.
For more on this sale’s ramifications for Georgia and the Augusta, Savannah and Athens papers that were longtime components of the Morris chain, see Morris Communications, The Augusta Chronicle and our InsiderAdvantage Georgia website for updates.
