Gannett buys remaining stake in 11 newspapers

Gannett said Monday that it completed buying the remaining 59.4% stake in the Texas-New Mexico Newspapers Partnership that it did not own from Digital First Media.

With the deal, Gannett now has complete ownership of 11 small newspapers in three states: El Paso Times in Texas; Alamogordo Daily News, Carlsbad Current-Argus, The Daily Times in Farmington, Deming Headlight, Las Cruces Sun-News and Silver City Sun-News in New Mexico; and Chambersburg Public Opinion, Hanover Evening Sun, Lebanon Daily News and the York Daily Record in Pennsylvania.

Gannett, which owns USA TODAY and is in the midst of spinning off its newspaper business, paid for the newspaper group with an undisclosed amount of cash and its 19.5% stake in the California Newspapers Partnership.

Gannett will no longer have any ownership interest in California Newspapers Partnership, which publishes more than 20 newspapers in California, including Contra Costa Times and San Jose Mercury News.

Gannett plans to spin off its 93 newspapers later this year and continue to operate its broadcast stations and online businesses, including Cars.com and CareerBuilder.com. After the spin-off, Gannett will rename itself Tegna.

The newspaper company to be spun off, which will keep the Gannett name, will be headed by Robert Dickey, currently president of Gannett's U.S. community publishing unit.

"Through the transaction, Gannett brings two well-thought-of editors into its fold," wrote industry analyst Ken Doctor, who first reported in April about Gannett's talks to buy the papers. "El Paso Times editor Bob Moore won the Ben Bradlee Award last year. York Daily Record editor Jim McClure is well regarded for his digital transformation work."

Digital First Media began looking for buyers for its newspapers last year. Formed after the 2013 merger of Media News Group and the former Journal Register Company, Digital First Media had been in talks with Apollo Global Management, but their talks fell through earlier this year.

In May, Digital First Media CEO John Paton told Doctor that the company won't sell its papers, including The Denver Post, "to a single buyer" and will look to execute "a horse-trading of assets."

In a memo sent to the staff in May, Paton also said he's stepping down as CEO on June 30.