ew York, in 1906.

Gannett, who was known as a conservative,[9] gained fame and fortune by

purchasing small independent newspapers and developing them into a large chain, a 20th-century
trend that helped the newspaper industry remain financially viable.[10] By 1979, the chain had
grown to 79 newspapers.[11]

After Frank Gannett the company was headed by Paul Miller, Al Neuharth, and John Curley in
succession.[12]

In 1979, Gannett acquired Combined Communications Corp., operator of 2 major daily

newspapers, the Oakland Tribune & The Cincinnati Enquirer, seven television stations, 13 radio
stations, as well as an outdoor advertising division, for $370 million.[13][14] The outdoor
advertising became known as Gannett Outdoor, before being acquired by Outdoor Systems
(previously a division of 3M), before the company was sold to Infinity Broadcasting, which later
became part of Viacom, and was part of CBS Corporation, until 2014 when CBS Outdoor went
independent and became Outfront Media.

The company was headquartered in Rochester until 1986, when it moved to Arlington County,
Virginia. Its former headquarters building, the Gannett Building, was listed on the National
Register of Historic Places in 1985.[15] Gannett's oldest newspapers still in circulation are the
Poughkeepsie Journal, founded in Poughkeepsie, New York in 1785,and The Leaf-Chronicle
founded in Clarksville, Tennessee in 1808. In 2001, the company moved to its current
headquarters in Tysons Corner, a suburb of Washington, D.C.

Beginning in 2005 at the Fort Myers News-Press, Gannett pioneered the mojo concept of mobile
multimedia journalists, reporters who were initially untethered from conventional newsrooms
and drove around their communities filing hyperlocal news via Wi-Fi in various formats
including text for print publication, still photos for print and online publication, and audio and
video for the News-Press website.[16] The practice has spread throughout the chain.[17]

On March 7, 2011, Gannett replaced the stylized "G" logo in use since the 1970s (notably used
on its TV stations as a corporate/local ID with different animations), and adopted a new company
tagline: "It's all within reach."[18]

In 2010, Gannett increased executive salaries and bonuses; for example, Bob Dickey, Gannett's
U.S. newspapers division president, was paid $3.4 million in 2010, up from $1.9 million the
previous year. The next year, the company laid off 700 U.S. employees to cut costs. In the memo
announcing the layoffs, Dickey wrote, "While we have sought many ways to reduce costs, I
regret to tell you that we will not be able to avoid layoffs."[19]
Gannett Logo used until March 2011.

In February 2012, Gannett announced that it would implement a paywall system across all of its
daily newspaper websites, with non-subscriber access will be limited to between five and fifteen
articles per month, varying by newspaper. The USA Today website became the only one to allow
unrestricted access.[20]

On March 24, 2012, the company announced that it would discipline 25 employees in Wisconsin
who had signed the petition to recall Governor Scott Walker, stating that this open public
participation in a political process was a violation of the company's code of journalistic ethics
and that their primary responsibility as journalists was to maintain credibility and public trust in
themselves and the organization.[21]

On August 21, 2012, Gannett acquired Blinq Media.[22]

Around the first week of October 2012, Gannett entered a dispute against Dish Network
regarding compensation fees and Dish's AutoHop commercial-skip feature on its Hopper digital
video recorders. Gannett ordered that Dish discontinue AutoHop on the account that it is
affecting advertising revenues for Gannett's television station. Gannett threatened to pull all of its
stations should the skirmish continue beyond October 7, and Dish and Gannett fail to reach an
agreement.[23][24] The two parties eventually reached an agreement after extending the deadline
for a few hours.[25]

Gannett announced it would not be delaying print deadlines for the 2018 midterm elections in the
United States, meaning that next-day newspapers would no longer contain the election's results,
instead directing readers to the Internet.[26]

Acquisition of Belo Corporation

On June 13, 2013, Gannett announced plans to buy Dallas-based Belo Corporation for $1.5
billion and the assumption of debt. The purchase would add 20 additional stations to Gannett's
portfolio and make the company the fourth largest television broadcaster in the U.S. with 43
stations.[27][28] Because of ownership conflicts that exist in markets where both Belo and Gannett
own television stations and newspapers, the use of a third-party company (Sander Media, LLC,
owned by former Belo executive Jack Sander) as a licensee to buy stations to be operated by the
owner of a same-market competitor and concerns about any possible future consolidation of
operations of Gannett- and Belo-owned properties in markets where both own television stations
or collusion involving the Gannett and Sander stations in retransmission consent negotiations,
anti-media-consolidation groups (such as Free Press) and pay television providers (such as Time
Warner Cable and DirecTV) have called for the FCC to block the acquisition.[29][30]

On December 16, 2013, the United States Department of Justice announced that Gannett, Belo,
and Sander would need to divest Belo's station in St. Louis, KMOV, to a government-approved
third-party that would be barred from entering into any agreements with Gannett, in order to
fully preserve competition in advertising sales with Gannett-owned KSDK.[31] The deal was
approved by the FCC on December 20,[32] and it was completed on December 23.[33] On
February 28, 2014, Meredith Corporation officially took over full control of KMOV.[34]

Acquisition of London Broadcasting Company stations

On May 14, 2014, Gannett announced the acquisition of six stations from the Texas-based
London Broadcasting Company in a $215 million deal, including KCEN-TV (NBC) in Waco-
Temple-Bryan, KYTX (CBS) in Tyler-Longview, KIII (ABC) in Corpus Christi, KBMT
(ABC/NBC) in Beaumont-Port Arthur, KXVA (FOX) in Abilene-Sweetwater and KIDY (FOX)
in San Angelo. The company's COO Phil Hurley will also join Gannett to continue his leadership
role at the six stations.[35] The acquisition was completed on July 8, 2014; in total, Gannett
stations now serve 83% of households in the state.[36] Post acquisition, Gannett now outright
owns and operates their first Fox affiliates, KIDY & KXVA.

Split and further deals

On August 5, 2014, Gannett announced that it plans to split into two independent publicly traded
companies, one focusing on its newspapers and publishing, which will retain the Gannett name,
and one on broadcasting. Robert Dickey—who currently leads Gannett's newspaper group—will
serve as CEO of the former company, leaving Gannett's remaining broadcasting and digital
operations under the leadership of Martore. In a statement, she explained that the split plans were
"significant next steps in our ongoing initiatives to increase shareholder value by building scale,
increasing cash flow, sharpening management focus, and strengthening all of our businesses to
compete effectively in today's increasingly digital landscape." Additionally, the company
announced that it would buy out the remainder of Classified Ventures—a joint venture between
Gannett and several other media companies, for $1.8 billion, giving it full ownership of
properties such as Cars.com.[37][38] On April 21, 2015, Gannett announced that the publishing
arm would continue to use the Gannett name, while the broadcasting and digital company would
be named Tegna—an anagram of Gannett.[39] The split was completed on June 29, 2015. The
split was structured so that the old Gannett changed its name to Tegna, and then spun off its
publishing interests as a "new" Gannett Company. The two companies shared a headquarters
complex in Tysons Corner for a time, though Gannett has since moved to McLean.[40]

On October 7, 2015, Gannett struck a deal to buy the Journal Media Group for $280 million,
giving it control of publications in over 100 markets in the Midwestern and Southern U.S.
Similar to what Gannett had earlier done with its broadcasting assets, the Milwaukee-based
Journal had separated its publishing and broadcasting arms in April 2015, with the E. W. Scripps
Company acquiring the television and radio properties owned by the former's technical
predecessor Journal Communications and spinning out their respective publishing operations into
Journal Media Group.[41] In December 2015, Gannett announced that its local newspapers would
be branded as the "USA Today Network", signifying a closer association with the national USA
Today paper.[42]

In April 2016, Gannett made an unsolicited bid to acquire the Tribune Publishing Company for
$12.25 per-share, or around $400 million. This deal was rejected by Tribune's shareholders in
May 2016; in turn, Gannett increased its offer to around $15 per-share (around $800 million).
Although the two companies held talks during the summer and into the fall of 2016,
disappointing earning reports for Gannett for the second and third quarters of 2016 caused
Gannett to pull out of talks on November 1.[43][44][45][46]