Gannett history

In 1918 Frank Gannett and his associates moved to Rochester, N.Y. They purchased two newspapers, merged them into the Rochester Times-Union and consolidated their holdings under the name Empire State Group.

In 1921 the Observer-Dispatch of Utica, New York, was acquired.

In 1923 Gannett bought out his partners' interests in the Empire State Group and the six newspapers the group then owned, and formed Gannett Co., Inc.

The company's role as a leader in technology began in 1929, when Frank Gannett co-invented the teletypesetter.

Neuharth continued as chairman of the Gannett Foundation, which was established in 1935 by Frank Gannett to promote free press, freedom of information and better journalism, adult literacy, community problem-solving, and volunteerism.

In 1938, before color was used much in newspapers, many Gannett presses were adapted for color; with its USA Today, the company would continue to be a leader in color use.

Gannett News Service, as the company became known, was founded in 1942 as Gannett National Service.

The Gannett National Service was founded in 1943 and provided Gannett newspapers with national enterprise and stories with a local angle from its Washington office and bureaus across the nation.

And in 1945, Gannett newspapers became the first newspaper group to be united by the Telephoto Network.

In 1947, when Paul Miller left his job as Washington bureau chief and assistant general manager of The Associated Press to join Gannett as executive assistant to Frank Gannett, the company operated 21 newspapers and seven radio stations.

The Village Voice in New York City began publishing in 1955.

Frank Gannett died in 1957, but not before he saw Miller named president and chief executive officer.

Gannett founded its first newspaper on Florida's space coast in 1966.

1967: Company goes public on the New York Stock Exchange.

In 1979 Gannett merged with Combined Communications in what was then the largest merger in the communications industry.

In 1982 the company began publishing USA Today, the United States’ first national, general-interest newspaper.

In 2001, the company moved to its current headquarters in Tysons Corner, a suburb of Washington, D.C. Its former headquarters building, the Gannett Building, was listed on theNational Register of Historic Places in 1985.

With executive travel increasing between Rochester and Arlington, Va., where USA TODAY is based, Gannett decided in 1986 to relocate its corporate headquarters to Arlington.

The company gradually built up a portfolio of 19 New York dailies by 1989.

To further serve the people and communities where it operates, in late 1990 the company announced the formation of Gannett Communities Fund.

On July 4, 1991, the philanthropy's name was changed to the Freedom Forum, and its mission was changed to focus on First Amendment and other strictly journalistic issues.

September 1992 marked ten unprofitable years for USA Today.

Gannett began the process of adding and paring away businesses in 1995.

In December 1997, Gannett sold its last five radio stations to Evergreen Media, ending its radio ownership.

By October 1999, Gannett was back in purchasing mode, picking up eight papers in the new York area from the Tucker Communications group; additionally, the company expanded in to Great Britain, picking up 11 British dailies.

The cable division was sold to Cox Communications in January 2000.

In 2001, the company moved to a new Gannett/USA TODAY headquarters in McLean, Va., about seven miles from Arlington.

In March, 2003, Newsquest acquired SMG Publishing, which added three Scottish regional newspapers, The Herald, Sunday Herald and Evening Times, as well as a series of non-daily publications, to the company.

On July 15, 2005, McCorkindale relinquished his roles as President and CEO to Craig Dubow, who was President and CEO of Gannett Broadcasting.

A little less than a year later, McCorkindale announced his retirement from the board and the company, effective June 30, 2006.

In 2010, Gannett increased executive salaries and bonuses; for example, Bob Dickey, Gannett's United States newspapers division president, was paid $3.4 million in 2010, up from $1.9 million the previous year.

In February 2012, Gannett announced that it would be implementing a paywall system across all of its newspaper websites, with non-subscriber access will be limited to between five and fifteen articles per month, varying by newspaper.

On June 13, 2013, Gannett announced plans to buy Dallas-based Belo Corporation for $1.5 billion and the assumption of debt.

The acquisition was completed on July 8, 2014; in total, Gannett stations now serve 83% of households in the state.

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.

In April 2016, Gannett made an unsolicited bid to acquire the Tribune Publishing Company for $12.25 per-share, or around $400 million.

In 2017, Gannett acquired SweetIQ, a provider of location and reputation management software that enables businesses to manage their location data and measure consumer engagement.

In 2018, the company acquired WordStream, a provider of cloud-based software-as-a-service (SaaS) solutions for local and regional businesses and agencies to optimize their digital marketing services campaigns.

After a failed attempt to place 3 DFM nominees on Gannett's board of directors through a proxy vote on May 16, 2019, DFM sold shares lowering their ownership to 4.2%.

In March 2020, Gannett announced that due to COVID-19, it will be forced to make a series of cuts and furloughs.