Gannett and GateHouse Media set to announce merger - Entrepreneur Generations

America's two largest newspaper chains, GateHouse Media and Gannett could confirm their merger as early as today, according to multiple confidential industry sources.

The new company, which will reportedly take the Gannett name and D.C.-area headquarters, would own and operate 265 dailies and thousands of weeklies—more than one in every six newspapers in the United States. Print circulation would hit 8.7 million and nudge McClatchy's 1.7 million into second place. Digital audiences would follow a similar pattern, Ken Doctor reports for the Nieman Lab at Harvard University. Doctor speculates that the deal, which GateHouse is driving, could generate $200- to $300 million in annual cost savings.

The deal will require federal approval because of the antitrust concerns. Though the Department of Justice is unlikely to nix the merger, it may introduce some hoops to jump through. "Tronc/Tribune found itself stymied by DOJ’s antitrust division in two deals — one for the Orange County Register, the other for the Chicago Sun-Times — a couple of years ago. Those two cases focused on claimed monopolistic limitation in regard to advertisers and/or subscribers in a single market," Doctor reports. "But GateHouse and Gannett’s holdings, as numerous as they are, may not be considered as competing head-to-head in any single market. The big question is how DOJ will look at the substantial regional clustering of properties this deal would bring.

It's also worth wondering whether the DOJ might consider national market domination along the same lines, since this merger will create a truly nationwide newspaper company footprint, Doctor reports.

"This merger produces a new cascade of questions. The first: What are the next dominoes this transaction sets up in the consolidation of the newspaper industry this transaction? Eyes are focused squarely on McClatchy and Tribune, though both Lee Enterprises and MNG Enterprises— the latest name for the collection of papers owned by Alden Global Capital — are also drawing attention," Doctor writes. "Back in January, I dubbed the industry-wide urge to merge the 2019 Consolidation Games, and this deal certainly sits atop the medal podium just past mid-year."

from The Rural Blog https://ift.tt/2Kjc3XM Gannett and GateHouse Media set to announce merger - Entrepreneur Generations

Posted by Entrepreneur Generations

Tweet