GateHouse Media begins newsroom layoffs at at least ten newspapers a week after announcing its merger agreement with Gannett. The New York Post reports that the company quietly carries out a round of cuts across those papers before the merger.
New Media Investment Group, the parent of GateHouse Media, agrees to acquire Gannett in a stock-and-cash deal. The transaction would create the largest newspaper publisher in the United States; Gannett owns USA Today.
GateHouse Media cuts roughly 200 jobs nationwide in a restructuring that its parent describes as small. The company operates 156 daily newspapers and 328 weeklies and is one of the largest publishers in the United States. The layoffs affect journalists across the country.
GateHouse Media acquires 11 daily newspapers, 30 weeklies, and online assets from Morris Publishing for $120 million. The deal expands GateHouse's chain to more than 120 daily newspapers.
