Gannett Co. Inc. (NYS:GCI) has been in an operational and financial tailspin since the company”™s 2019 merger with GateHouse Media.
The new data analysis published by Axios determined that Gannett”™s debt accrued from the GateHouse merger forced the company to “dramatically cut costs and bring its employee count nearly back to what it was prior to the 2019 deal.” As of Dec. 31, Gannett had 11,200 employees, down from 21,255 employees following the 2019 merger with GateHouse and only 562 more than the 10,638 individuals employed by a standalone Gannett.
The merger also forced Gannett to reduce its media presence ”“ it reduced the number of local-focused websites by 117 and sliced the number of weekly newspapers by 127. As a result of this shrinkage, Gannett’s total operating revenue in 2022 was $2.9 billion, down 8% year-over-year.
Nonetheless, Gannett is still the nation”™s largest newspaper chain with more than 200 print papers. Locally, the company publishes The Journal News, the Poughkeepsie Journal and the Times Herald-Record.
