CherryRoad Media is purchasing newspapers in Texas and Oklahoma from Gannett. In Texas, the newspapers involved are located in Sherman, Waxahachie, Stephenville, Brownwood and Alice. The Ardmore and Shawnee newspapers will be bought in Oklahoma, according to a report in The Oklahoman.
“Everything will be seamless for the first month or two, and then we’ll be working to bring the content back with more of a local flair to it, local content. And we’ll also be looking to bring a lot of the advertising activity more local. We want to bring as much as possible back to the individual locations, but that’s going to take a couple months to get that done.”
CherryRoad CEO Jeremy Gulban
CherryRoad is on a newspaper buying spree. Furthermore, CherryRoad is relatively new on the newspaper scene. The Parisppany, New Jersey based firm entered the newspaper industry in late 2020. Most recently, in January, we reported the firm bought seven Minnesota newspapers from Gannett. Additionally, the company acquired 20 papers from Gannett in October. All 20 are published in Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa and Missouri.
Gannett continues to sell off local newspapers. Bernie Szachara, who leads Gannett’s U.S. publishing operations, recently told Poynter:
“Our mission is to empower communities, and our decisions are driven by our commitment to best serve them. Having been approached by prospective buyers, we’ve carefully considered what was best for both our company and the community, and we’re pleased that in several situations, a local owner will continue to lead these brands into the future.”
Bernie Szachara, Gannett
No terms were disclosed on the Texas and Oklahoma acquisitions. However, it is expected to be finalized on February 1, 2022.
