In September of 2021, Cherry Road Media, a Parsippany, New Jersey-based technology company, announced it had acquired 20 newspapers from the Gannett company, bringing their total count of publications owned to 27. Their list of titles now stretches across seven states: Kansas, Arkansas, Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri, Minnesota and Alabama.
Cherry Road CEO Jeremy Gulban stated in a recent press release that "This was his way to give back to local communities by supporting media houses that add so much value to our daily lives but are suffering the brunt of a digital age by losing subscriptions."
In the October 2021 E&P cover story entitled: "Under New Management," Sara April, from Dirks, Van Essen & April, the media merger and acquisition firm that represented Gannett in the sale of the 20 properties to Gulban, described the current mergers-and-acquisition landscape as "dynamic," noting that buyer trends have changed in the past three years. April stated: "Before that, the industry saw a lot of large corporate owners buying newspapers. Then, just a few years later, some of those organizations, including Gannett, are now selling off some of them, especially local titles."
In this 107th episode of "E&P Reports," Publisher Mike Blinder interviews Cherry Road's CEO Jeremy Gulban about why his technology company is "all-in" with newspaper ownership and his plans for managing their 27 local publications. And does his future include more growth in the news publishing industry? Also appearing in this episode is Sara April, from Dirks, Van Essen & April, who talks about the recent sale and offers her perspective on the current mergers & acquisition landscape for both buyers and sellers.
Newspapers owned by Cherry Road Media now include:
236 Detroit PBS CEO Rich Homberg's mission to redefine public media
235 Turning the Page: Daniel Richardson's journey to restore local news to Tennessee towns.
234 Local Media Association and Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association partner to create fundraising lab
233 New York State implements historic tax credits to support local journalism.
232 Facebook blocks State’s Newsroom’s Kansas Reflector: A threat to free press and first Amendment?
231 Addressing America's Divides: The Chronicle of Philanthropy’s newest chapter1
230 Understanding the skills necessary to lead the newsroom of tomorrow
229 The “whats, whys and hows” of The Association of Community Publishers (ACP)
228 Exploring their new book: “What Works in Community News,” from authors Ellen Clegg & Dan Kennedy
227 A look at the broadcast news industry from RTDNA CEO Dan Shelley
226 A frank discussion about public media with industry expert Tom Davidson
225 Jeff Jarvis and Steven Waldman debate the hard questions facing the news media industry.
224 No more downsizing, as Gannett is hiring locally at all levels.
223 An inside look at The Messenger — from startup to shut down — 10 months and 50 million dollars later
222 An inside look at the LA Times with Guild President, Matt Pearce
221 Hussman announces four $25k prizes for best in fair and impartial reporting.
220 Word in Black's journey from a pilot project to a public benefit corporation
219 Media sales icon Chris Lytle shares tried and true insights that still apply today.
218 A new film tells a story of how hedge funds are destroying local journalism.
217 The future of “big tech” compensation, now that Google's $100 million deal with Canada is law
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