Fast-growing US regional publisher CherryRoad Media has leapt forward again with the acquisition of eight newspapers and two print operations.
Owned by 40-year-old New Jersey-based technology company CherryRoad Technologies, CherryRoad Media bought its first newspaper in 2020.
Last month, it closed on a deal with Gannett to buy the plant which prints most of its Kansas publications… and another with Delphos Herald and the Cohen family to buy eight community newspapers in Ohio and Indiana and a commercial print operation there.
Gannett is selling its Hutchinson, Kansas, printing operations but not its Hutchinson News, which will continue to be printed at the facility.
The entry into printing has come in quick succession, with CherryRoad chief executive Jeremy Gulban “very excited” to be to be acquiring the Hutchinson operation.
“For almost two years we have worked with the talented team in Hutchinson to print our newspapers – now we welcome them to our organisation,” he says.
He thanked the Gannett leadership helping them create “a stable printing solution” for newspapers in Kansas and Colorado.
“This is a good thing for the future availability of printed newspapers in the region.”
Eagle Print, across the street from the Delphos Herald, Murray Cohen’s first acquisition, provides offset printing and related services to internal customers and commercial customers throughout Ohio, Indiana and Michigan, and Kentucky.
Six of the newspapers CherryRoad is buying are clustered in Northwestern Ohio and also based in Delphos. Most date to the mid to late 1800s, with more than 150 years of history serving their respective communities. The acquisition also includes the Monroe County Beacon, a stand-alone weekly and shopper in Woodsfield in eastern Ohio. Additionally, The Register in Lawrenceburg, Indiana, is on the west side of Ohio River.
Delphos Herald president Roberta Cohen said her father bought the flagship newspaper in 1962, and she was confident she could entrust the long-held newspapers to a company “that shares the same vision and values that my sister Jennifer Shneiderman and I have and that my father had”.
Dirks, Van Essen & April represented Delphos Herald and the Cohen family in the transaction, terms of which were not disclosed.
Pictures KLC Journal and Eagle Print