1906–1983
Gannett Company, Inc. was formed in 1923 by Frank Gannett in Rochester, New York, as an outgrowth of the Elmira Gazette, a newspaper business he had begun in Elmira, New York, in 1906. Gannett, who was known as a conservative,[12] gained fame and fortune by purchasing small independent newspapers and developing them into a large chain, a 20th-century trend that helped the newspaper industry remain financially viable.[13]
In April 1957, Paul Miller succeeded Frank Gannett as president and CEO when the group held 19 newspapers over four states; Florida not among them. Miller became frustrated after repeated unsuccessful attempts to acquire a foothold in Florida, then targeted Brevard County. He spoke to Marie Holderman, the owner and publisher of the Cocoa Tribune, and shared his plan for a morning daily paper in Brevard County. Holderman was not interested. Over the next few years, several Gannett representatives attempted to negotiate a purchase, without success.
In the late 1950s, Al Neuharth was assistant managing editor at the Miami Herald and became acquainted with Marie Holderman. In 1963, he was hired by Miller to manage the Democrat and Chronicle in Rochester, New York. Two years later, he asked Miller for an opportunity to persuade Holderman.
In their meeting, Neuharth complimented the Tribune, but told Holderman that she lacked the resources to win a competition. Holderman was invited to Rochester for a meeting to talk with Gannett executives. The Gannett corporate airplane flew four people from Florida to New York.
John Pound, managing editor joined Holderman and her two granddaughters on the trip in May 1965. Convinced of Gannett's determination and at age 81, Holderman decided to sell, and Pound told the executives they wanted $1.9 million in compensation. Neuharth's response: "We told them that was a fair price and we certainly paid her more than she expected to get."[14]
In 1966, Neuharth took charge of Gannett Florida. After a few months, the Hudson family in Titusville decided to sell the Star Advocate to Gannett for $1 million.[14]
Neuharth started Today in Cocoa, which eventually became Florida Today.[15] By June 1966, paid subscriptions were 33,000, far exceeding their goal of 20,000 by the end of the year. The paper became profitable in 1968 after just 33 months.[14]
Miller was succeeded by Al Neuharth in 1973.[14]
In 1978, Gannett acquired Combined Communications Corp.,[16] operator of 2 major daily newspapers, the Oakland Tribune and The Cincinnati Enquirer, seven television stations, 13 radio stations, as well as an outdoor advertising division, for $370 million.[17][18] The outdoor advertising became known as Gannett Outdoor, before being acquired by Outdoor Systems (previously a division of 3M), before the company was sold to Infinity Broadcasting, which later became part of Viacom, and was part of CBS Corporation, until 2014 when CBS Outdoor went independent and became Outfront Media.
In 1979 The News Journal in Wilmington, Delaware was purchased from DuPont and The Tennessean in Nashville when the chain had grown to 79 newspapers.[19] In 1981, Gannett partnered with anchors Robert MacNeil and Jim Lehrer to start a production company MacNeil/Lehrer-Gannett Productions.[20] Gannett broke up in June 1986.[21] In 1982, the broadcasting unit partnered with Telepictures Corporation to start out its Newscope program.[22]
Gannett announced the launch of the national newspaper titled USA Today on April 20, 1982, it initially launched on September 15, 1982, in the Baltimore and Washington, D.C. metropolitan areas.[23][24] for a newsstand price of 25¢ (equivalent to ¢ in )
Gannett's oldest newspaper is the Berrow's Worcester Journal based in Worcester, England and founded in 1690. In the United States, the oldest newspapers still in circulation are the Poughkeepsie Journal, founded in Poughkeepsie, New York in 1785, and The Leaf-Chronicle founded in Clarksville, Tennessee in 1808.
1984–2013
In 1984, John Curley was appointed president and COO. In 1985, Curley became CEO and continued as president.[25]
The company was headquartered in Rochester until 1986, when it moved to Arlington County, Virginia. Its former headquarters building, the Gannett Building, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985.[26]
In 1986, Gannett and former NBC chief executive officer Grant Tinker formed GTG Entertainment, a television production company based at The Culver Studios in Culver City, which produced the first season of Baywatch and the short-lived television version of USA Today titled USA Today: The Television Show. It was dissolved in 1990.[27][28][29]
Acquisition of Belo Corporation, 2013
On June 13, 2013, Gannett announced plans to buy Dallas-based Belo Corporation for $1.5 billion and the assumption of debt. The purchase would add 20 additional stations to Gannett's portfolio and make the company the fourth largest television broadcaster in the U.S. with 43 stations.[43][44] Because of ownership conflicts that exist in markets where both Belo and Gannett own television stations and newspapers, the use of a third-party company (Sander Media, LLC, owned by former Belo executive Jack Sander) as a licensee to buy stations to be operated by the owner of a same-market competitor and concerns about any possible future consolidation of operations of Gannett- and Belo-owned properties in markets where both own television stations or collusion involving the Gannett and Sander stations in retransmission consent negotiations, anti-media-consolidation groups (such as Free Press) and pay television providers (such as Time Warner Cable and DirecTV) have called for the FCC to block the acquisition.[45][46]
Acquisition of London Broadcasting Company stations, 2014
On May 14, 2014, Gannett announced the acquisition of six stations from the Texas-based London Broadcasting Company in a $215 million deal, including KCEN-TV (NBC) in Waco-Temple-Bryan, KYTX (CBS) in Tyler-Longview, KIII (ABC) in Corpus Christi, KBMT (ABC/NBC) in Beaumont-Port Arthur, KXVA (FOX) in Abilene-Sweetwater and KIDY (FOX) in San Angelo. The company's COO Phil Hurley will also join Gannett to continue his leadership role at the six stations.[51] The acquisition was completed on July 8, 2014; in total, Gannett stations now serve 83% of households in the state.[52] Post acquisition, Gannett now outright owns and operates their first Fox affiliates, KIDY & KXVA.
Split and further deals, 2014–2018
On August 5, 2014, Gannett announced that it plans to split into two independent publicly traded companies–one focused on newspapers and publishing, the other on broadcasting. Robert Dickey, head of old Gannett's newspaper division, became CEO of the newspaper company, leaving Gannett's remaining broadcasting and digital operations under the leadership of Martore. In a statement, she explained that the split plans were "significant next steps in our ongoing initiatives to increase shareholder value by building scale, increasing cash flow, sharpening management focus, and strengthening all of our businesses to compete effectively in today's increasingly digital landscape." Additionally, the company announced that it would buy out the remainder of Classified Ventures—a joint venture between Gannett and several other media companies, for $1.8 billion, giving it full ownership of properties such as Cars.com.[53][54] On April 21, 2015, Gannett announced that the publishing arm would continue to use the Gannett name, while the broadcasting and digital company would be named Tegna—an anagram of Gannett.[55] The split was completed on June 29, 2015. The split was structured so that the old Gannett changed its name to Tegna, and then spun off its publishing interests as a "new" Gannett Company.
In January 2019, Digital First Media (DFM) made an unsolicited bid to acquire Gannett for $1.36 billion, but it was rejected for being undervalued.[64] In an attempt to pursue a hostile takeover, DFM built up a 7.5% stake of Gannett's public shares. Gannett subsequently accused the company of engaging in a proxy fight.[65][66] After a failed attempt to place three DFM nominees on Gannett's board of directors through a proxy vote on May 16, 2019, DFM sold shares lowering their ownership to 4.2%.[67]
On August 5, 2019, New Media Investment Group, parent of GateHouse Media, announced that it would acquire Gannett.[68]
Sued for enabling sexual abuse of paperboys in 1970s New York and Arizona, 2019
In 2019, Gannett was sued[79] under the New York State Child Victim's Act by a former paperboy who accused the company of enabling a former district manager to sexually abuse him in the 1980s. In late 2018 as Gannett was seeking partners for a merger, fending off a hostile takeover and its stock fell,[80] this former paperboy emailed investigative reporters and Gannett management asking them to investigate his claims. In response, Karen Magnuson, then Executive Editor for Gannett's Democrat and Chronicle, told reporters to put their investigative reporting of abuse claims on "pause",[81] and brought the email to the attention of Gannett's management to conduct their own investigation.
Gannett chief operating officer Michael G. Kane sent the original claimant a letter indicating no evidence had been found and they were "closing out" the matter. A few months later New York passed its Child Victim Act lifting statute of limitations on child sex abuse claims.[82] Four more lawsuits were filed in February 2020[83]
COVID-19 pandemic, 2020
In March 2020, Gannett announced that due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it will be forced to make a series of cuts and furloughs. Executives would also take a 25% reduction in salary.[90]
Reduction of editorial content, 2022–2024
In April 2022, a committee of Gannett editors made the formal recommendation that newspapers in the chain should significantly pare back the opinion material that newspapers traditionally publish on their editorial pages, including editorials, op-ed columns, syndicated columns and editorial cartoons. According to the company-wide memo, "Readers don't want us to tell them what to think. They don't believe we have the expertise to tell anyone what to think on most issues. They perceive us as having a biased agenda." The memo additionally claimed that editorial content is the least-read content in the papers while being the most likely reason someone gives for cancelling a subscription.[91]
In March 2024, the company announced that effective March 25, it would end its legacy Associated Press premium subscription, meaning it would no longer pay to publish AP dispatches, photos and video from the wire service in Gannett-owned publications.[92] According to a statement from the company, this decision, regarded by observers as a cost-cutting move, "will give us the opportunity to redeploy more dollars toward our teams and build capacity where we might have gaps."[93]
In that same memo, Gannett said it signed an agreement with Reuters to publish the newswire's global content.
Financial conditions and layoffs 2022
In the second quarter of 2022, Gannett's revenue was $749 million, sustaining a loss of $54 million. In reaction to the news, the company announced, "In the coming days, we will be making necessary but painful reductions to staffing, eliminating some open positions and roles that will impact valued colleagues."[95] At the end of August, the company announced that it was laying off 3% of its United States workforce, which was about 400 employees. At this announcement, Gannett also said they would not be filling 400 open positions.[96] At the time of the announcement, Gannett stock, which was already down about 45% on the year, fell an additional 28.5%.[95]
In October, the company announced the second round of financial austerity steps. These included the requirement that all employees take a week of unpaid leave in December, and a suspension of matching contributions to employee 401(k) accounts. Gannett also instituted a hiring freeze and was seeking volunteers for buyouts.[97]
