This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/greenslade/2013/jun/14/gannet-pay-billion-belo-corp
The article has changed 3 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
| Version 0 | Version 1 |
|---|---|
| Gannett to pay $1.5bn for Belo Corp | Gannett to pay $1.5bn for Belo Corp |
| (about 9 hours later) | |
| Gannett, the giant US media group, is about to get bigger still. It has agreed to pay about $1.5bn (£956m) to acquire the broadcaster Belo Corp, owner of 20 TV stations and associated websites. | |
| The deal nearly doubles Gannett's current television portfolio to 43 stations, making it America's fourth largest owner of TV network affiliates. It underlines Gannett's efforts to shift away from newspaper publishing to focus more on broadcasting. | The deal nearly doubles Gannett's current television portfolio to 43 stations, making it America's fourth largest owner of TV network affiliates. It underlines Gannett's efforts to shift away from newspaper publishing to focus more on broadcasting. |
| Gannett's chief executive, Gracia Martore, said the acquisition will also help the company to expand its digital marketing services business. | Gannett's chief executive, Gracia Martore, said the acquisition will also help the company to expand its digital marketing services business. |
| Belo, originally known as a Texas newspaper company, spun off its newspaper business into a separate business that publishes, among others, the Dallas Morning News and the Providence Journal. | |
| Gannett owns the UK regional newspaper publisher, Newsquest, the third largest in terms of weekly circulation. And the National Union of Journalists' Newsquest group chapel was unimpressed with Gannett having agreed to take on more debt to acquire Belo. | |
| Chapel father Bob Smith said the deal is "worrying" to his NUJ members. He continued: "Not so long ago, Gannett was saddled with $2.3bn of debt, the consequence of which it is still dealing with. | |
| "Now, it has admitted it will have to borrow again to finance the purchase of Belo for $2.2bn. It appears the Gannett board has short memories." | |
| He also referred to the Gannett seeing its future in broadcast rather than print, calling it "another worry for the long-suffering journalists in the UK who have endured a pay freeze for four of the past five years." | |
| Sources: Wall Street Journal/Gannett/NUJ |