Gannett and SPACE.Com Announce Strategic Media Partnership
NEW YORK – Gannett Co., Inc. and SPACE.com, Inc. today announced the formation of a strategic media partnership in which Gannett becomes an equity investor in SPACE.com and SPACE.com acquires Gannett’s space media properties for its portfolio of publishing, broadcast, Web and software businesses.
Gannett and SPACE.com have signed a definitive agreement in which SPACE.com acquires Space News newspaper, and spacenews.com and FLORIDA TODAY’s Space Online Web sites. Under the agreement, Gannett will provide cash investment and the substantial marketing and promotional support of its media assets including USA TODAY, the company’s regional newspapers, broadcast outlets and Internet properties, in exchange for an interest in SPACE.com. Financial details regarding the transaction were not disclosed. Closing is expected in November.
“We feel the combination of the assets of Space.com with Space News and Space Online will create a clear leader in delivering multi-media news and information about Space,” said Douglas H. McCorkindale, President and CEO of Gannett. “Gannett and its shareholders will benefit from the partnership.”
“Space News and FLORIDA TODAY’s Space Online are powerful additions to SPACE.com’s growing roster of media assets focused on space and aerospace,” said SPACE.com Chairman and CEO Lou Dobbs. “We are proud to have Gannett as our strategic partner and we believe our relationship will accelerate the extension of our multimedia brand strategy.”
Space News, the only news weekly dedicated entirely to space, is the authoritative global business news source for decision-makers and opinion-leaders in industry, military and government. Spacenews.com provides daily space business updates. Space News’ editorial coverage ranges from space policies, politics, legislation, business and finance to satellite communications, new products and advanced technologies. The FLORIDA TODAY Space Online Web site features daily space news focusing on Cape Canaveral, major rocket launch information, special reports and more.
Gannett Co., Inc. is an international news and information company that publishes 99 daily newspapers in the USA, including USA TODAY, the nation’s largest-selling daily newspaper. The company also owns in excess of 300 non-daily publications in the USA and USA WEEKEND, a weekly newspaper magazine. In the United Kingdom, Gannett subsidiary Newsquest plc publishes 300 titles, including 15 daily newspapers. Gannett also operates 22 television stations in the United States and is an Internet leader with sites sponsored by most of its TV stations and newspapers including USATODAY.com, one of the most popular news sites on the Web.
SPACE.com is the first multimedia company dedicated to space and space-related content and serving its audience on a wide variety of platforms. Anchored on the Web, the company has rapidly expanded across media with its print and software offerings. SPACE.com, the definitive space Web site, offers the richest and most compelling content, featuring news, information, education, entertainment, games, science fiction and a kids’ channel. SPACE.com is also at the forefront of broadband content and technology, having launched the broadband channel Space TV on the Real.com Network. SPACE.com publishes SPACE Illustrated magazine which conveys the wonder of humankind’s greatest adventure through spectacular space imagery and content, and Space Business International, the leading business to business international space publication. The company also publishes Starry Night, the country’s leading software line for amateur astronomers. SPACE.com is headquartered in New York City with offices and news bureaus in Washington D.C.; Cape Canaveral, Fla.; Houston, Texas; Pasadena, Calif.; Cary, N.C.; Toronto, Canada; London, U.K.; and Tokyo, Japan.
CONTACT:
SPACE.com – Toni DiMartino, 212/703-5828, tdimartino@hq.space.com or
Gannett – Office of Public Affairs – Tara Connell, (703) 284-6038, tconnell@GCI1.gannett.com or
Mimi Feller, Sr. V.P. of Public Affairs and Government Relations, (703) 284-6046