Newspaper Publishers Enter the Eye of the Storm - August 2015 M&A Activity

The future is becoming increasingly cloudy and uncertain for regional and community newspaper publishers; readers are drifting away from the printed form of news, and advertising revenues decline in lock step. Transactional activity over the past several years indicates that publishers of newspapers, from small community weeklies to major metro dailies, are seeking shelter from the storm by adopting several strategies that they hope will restore the clear sailing that many newspaper-owning families enjoyed for generations.

The strategies we see repeated across the country include: centralizing and/or outsourcing print operations in new highly efficient facilities, adding services traditionally offered by advertising agencies including internet-based services, adopting pay-to-read technologies to break away from free online content models, and finally simply selling out to one of several industry consolidators. With the exception of those exiting the newspaper publishing business completely, what lies on the other side may be just as daunting as the journey of the past several years.