• by Sara Guaglione , July 7, 2016

After weeks of speculation from Politico and the New York Post, Gannett confirmed Wednesday that they have acquired the North Jersey Media Group, which includes prominent daily The Record.

Also included in the sale are the neighboring daily The Herald News, dozens of community newspapers and other affiliated digital media properties like the website northjersey.com.

Gannett expects the acquisition to contribute approximately $90 million in annual revenues. Its portfolio of U.S.-based daily newspapers now totals 109. The price of the sale was not disclosed.

“Gannett continues to execute on its local market growth strategy. This latest acquisition positions the company to be the leading news provider in the state of New Jersey,” stated Robert Dickey, president and CEO of Gannett.

The Record is New Jersey's second-largest newspaper behind The Star-Ledger.

The sale brings an end to a decades-long family ownership of The Record, the latest in a pattern of big media companies buying out local, privately owned daily newspapers. The Borg family had owned The Record since 1930.

“The Borg family built a strong foundation over the many decades of its ownership of North Jersey Media Group. We will continue to build upon its legacy of strong journalism, successful community engagement and effectively connecting advertisers to the audiences they seek,” stated John Zidich, president of domestic publishing at Gannett.

Gannett has been aggressively purchasing media properties this year. In April, the company bought Journal Media Group for $240 million, attempted to complete a takeover bid for Tribune Publishing this spring and in June purchased marketing services firm ReachLocal for $156 million.

Also this January, the Mead family sold The Times Publishing Co. to New Media Investment Group Inc., after completely owning or controlling the company for 127 years. Last December, Gulfshore Media LLC’s Sarasota-based titles were sold to Portland-based SagaCity Media.