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:
180 Two embedded journalists are making an impact thanks to the JFP
179 Six diverse news disrupters band together to create the Alliance for Sustainable Local News
178 Small-town citizens share support for the saving of their newspaper.
177 Foreign affairs expert Richard Haass asks us to be a “better informed” citizenry in his latest book.
176 Ryan Dohrn on selling in a post-covid marketplace and why he is “all in” on Niche Media
175 Medford, Oregon: As one paper dies, another begins all in a few weeks.
174 Meet the Pulitzer Prize ADN journalist who helped inspire ABC's "Alaska Daily."
173 University of Oregon journalism chair asks Gannet to donate The Eugene Register-Guard to the school.
172 Steve Waldman’s Rebuild Local News Coalition — aggregating industry advocacy
171 The Bucks County Herald: A story of survival, moving from family to foundation-owned
170 Ken Doctor pulls no punches on why the JCPA was a bad idea & updates us on two years at Lookout Local.
169 The JCPA. What the heck happened, and what's next?
168 Emmy award-winning broadcaster born without legs is helping others with disabilities find media careers. Meet Dave Stevens.
167 Journalism Trust Initiative. Elevating journalistic integrity
166 This year’s “best-ofs” from E&P columnist/ contributor Rob Tornoe
165 The best of 2022 E&P's "The Corner Office," from consultant/ columnist Doug Phares
164 A frank one-on-one with the LMA's Nancy Lane
163 ProPublica founder Dick Tofel speaks on funding/ philanthropy flaws and more
162 Against big tech comp, paywalls & more. 1-on-1 with Jeff Jarvis
161 One-on-one with Community Impact’s John Garrett
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