DOJ Approves Gannett's Acquisition Of Journal Media Group Newspapers

by Sara Guaglione , April 11, 2016

The U.S. Department of Justice on Friday approved Gannett’s move to acquire Journal Media Group, the parent company of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and 14 other newspapers.

All of Journal Media Group’s affiliated digital assets will also go to Gannett. Robert Dickey, president and CEO of Gannett, called the announcement "an important milestone."

In February, Gannett said the Journal Media Group purchase would add approximately $450 million in annual revenue.

“The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel remains Wisconsin’s largest news outlet, and with this acquisition becomes one of Gannett’s larger news organizations,” stated Elizabeth Brenner, president and publisher of the Journal Sentinel. “We will always be committed to the health and strength of southeastern Wisconsin. We look forward to using the extensive resources of our new owners to serve our readers, advertisers and community partners throughout Milwaukee.”

According to Talking New Media, this may mean the Journal Sentinel’s site will adopt the same design used by all of Gannett’s publications.

Journal Media Group received multiple requests for additional information and documentary material from the DOJ’s antitrust division before they could close the deal with Gannett. The DOJ finally finished their investigation on Friday, after the transaction was delayed for nearly two weeks.

Last month, Tribune Publishing ran into a similar issue, but had an entirely different outcome - the DOJ stepped in and blocked their bid to acquire the bankrupt Freedom Communications.

However, Gannett’s new properties are spread throughout the Midwest and the South, while Tribune’s bid would have added the Orange County Registerto their numerous holdings in Southern California.

digital content, m&a, newspapers

3 comments about "DOJ Approves Gannett's Acquisition Of Journal Media Group Newspapers".

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Stan Valinski from Multi-Media Solutions Group, April 11, 2016 at 9:58 p.m.
Smart move by Ganett. Should help in the fight to keep newspapers viable.
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Syndicated News from www.SyndicatedNews.NET, April 12, 2016 at 8:58 a.m.

Papers printed in ink on paper as was done traditionally is a product of a bygone era.

People "multi-task" now. They listen to the news on their devices as they travel in cars, airplanes or any sort of mass transit. You can't very well drive a car while you have a paper in your hands and you can't walk from one place to another without consideratble risk to your safety if you're reading a paper.

It's time to stop trying to relive the past by hanging on to its tools and toys.

Ed Papazian from Media Dynamics, April 12, 2016 at 9:39 a.m.

--- you can sit down at your desk or a breakfast table and read your paper, can't you? I suspect that quite a few people still enjoy a quiet, relaxing perusal of their printed newspapers, though not as many as in the past, of course. The same goes for books. Sure, there are other methods of accessing such content---but why is one way----the electronic way---- the only way?