Gannett sold

to Tokyo-based

holding company

Dear Reader,

The news is out. Gannett just sold itself to the highest

bidder. Let’s take a look at this.

According to an article in USA Today, a Gannett-

owned newspaper, Gannett was acquired by GateHouse

Media, which is owned by New Media Investment

Group, which is owned by Fortress Investment group,

which is owned by Softbank. Is that a little bewildering

to you? I think it is for all of us.

Gannett and GateHouse together will own a lot of

newspapers. I mean a lot. How many? According to that

same article, over 260 daily newspapers. That includes

many here in North Central Wisconsin. It will be the

biggest newspaper company by number of publications

our nation has ever seen.

Now, who is Softbank, the new ultimate owner of the

combined Gannett-GateHouse conglomerate?

That’s a good question, and a little hard to answer.

We know it is based in Tokyo, Japan, and that it has

holdings in telecommunications, e-commerce, finance,

broadband, and marketing. Beyond that, what do we

know about Gannett’s Tokyo-based masters?

The rationale for this merger is that it will save $250

to $300 million dollars. I think we all know what that

means. USA Today reports “Gannett had about 16,980

employees at the end of 2018, while GateHouse had

about 10,638 employees, according to their securities fil-

ings.” Want to bet how many of those employees will

still be with the combined entity a year from now?

In the final analysis, the folks remaining at the

newly merged Gannett/GateHouse will be under

pressure to make money for their Tokyo, Japan-

based private equity owners in order to keep their

jobs. How much time will that give them for report-

ing our local news here in Wisconsin? How much

of the money they collect from us will stay here

in the communities or be shipped overseas to their

new masters?

I think we know the answers to these questions,

and they don’t bode well for our community.

Patrick Wood

Publisher