Gannett to Acquire HomeTown Communications Network
McLEAN, VA – Gannett Co., Inc. (NYSE: GCI) has agreed to acquire the assets of HomeTown Communications Network, Inc., a community publishing company with newspapers, telephone directories, shoppers and niche publications in Michigan, Ohio and Kentucky.
Terms of the deal, which is subject to regulatory review, were not disclosed.
The HomeTown Communications Network features one daily and 62 weekly and twice-weekly community newspapers, with an aggregate, audited circulation greater than 740,000. The network also includes 24 community telephone directories with a total distribution of nearly 1,500,000; one shopping guide; and other specialty and niche publications. The company has a digital operation, with Web sites and Web-based services including design and production, as well as commercial typesetting and printing from four plants.
The newspaper group includes the recently launched Daily Press & Argus in fast-growing Livingston County, MI, and non-daily groups in the suburban areas near Detroit, Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky and Lansing, MI.
“HomeTown’s publications are an excellent fit with Gannett’s operations in these growth areas of Michigan, Ohio and Kentucky,” said Gary Watson, president of Gannett’s Newspaper Division. “We’re very pleased that company founder Philip Power and his wife Kathleen looked to Gannett when they decided to retire. The Powers made very smart decisions in the nearly 40 years they owned and operated HomeTown and we plan to continue in that tradition.”
“Gannett is one of the world’s largest newspaper companies, with a demonstrated track record of capable professional management, great financial stability and high community involvement. I wanted the newspapers, telephone directories and other publications that I spent so much of my career building to wind up in good hands after I left. I believe Gannett’s hands are the best available,” said Philip Power, Hometown’s chairman.
HomeTown has approximately 780 employees. Revenues are expected to exceed $86 million in 2004.
Gannett Co., Inc. is a leading international news and information company that publishes 101 daily newspapers in the USA, including USA TODAY, the nation’s largest-selling daily newspaper. The company also owns more than 600 non-daily publications in the USA and USA WEEKEND, a weekly newspaper magazine. Gannett subsidiary Newsquest is the United Kingdom’s second largest regional newspaper company. Newsquest publishes more than 300 titles, including 17 daily newspapers, and a network of prize-winning Web sites. Gannett also operates 21 television stations in the United States and is an Internet leader with sites sponsored by its TV stations and newspapers including USATODAY.com, one of the most popular news sites on the Web.
For more information, contact:
Tara Connell
Vice President of Corporate Communications, Gannett
Office: 703-854-6049
tjconnel@gannett.com