American publisher
For the multinational construction and agriculatural equipment manufacturer, see
CNH Industrial
.
CNHI, LLC
(formerly
Community Newspaper Holdings, Inc.
) is an American
publisher
of
newspapers
and advertising-related publications throughout the
United States
. The company was formed in 1997 by Ralph Martin,
[1]
and is based in
Montgomery, Alabama
[2]
(after moving from
Birmingham, Alabama
in September 2011). The company is financed by, and is a subsidiary of, the
Retirement Systems of Alabama
(RSA).
History
[
edit
]
The company has been formed by acquisitions. It started by acquiring many of the smaller former
Park
papers from
Media General
. Two years later, it bought several papers from
Hollinger International
. In 2000, it acquired another batch of papers from the
Thomson Corporation
.
In 2002, CNHI paid $182 million for 4 daily newspapers and other non-daily publications from Ottaway Newspapers Inc., the community newspaper group of Dow Jones & Co. Inc., that Ottaway had determined not to be growth markets.
[3]
In 2006, the company acquired 6 more newspapers from Ottaway.
[4]
Ottaway used $144 million of the 2002 sale to buy
The Record
newspaper in Stockton, California, in 2003.
[5]
In September 2013, Dow Jones, which had renamed the properties as Dow Jones Local Media Group, sold the entire remaining group of 33 community newspapers to Newcastle Investment Corp. for a total of only $87 million.
[6]
In 2007, CNHI sold the
Santa Cruz Sentinel
, a former Ottaway publication, to
MediaNews Group
.
[7]
As of 2006,
[update]
CNHI owned 90 daily newspapers and more than 200 non-daily newspapers in 22 states. George Wakefield is CNHI chairman; Donna Barrett is president and
CEO
. CNHI newspapers are clustered in groups that cross-sell packages to advertisers
[1]
and occasionally feature shared editorial content.
In 2009, CNHI implemented mandatory
furloughs
for most non-sales staff, requiring employees to take a mandatory week off without pay every quarter. As of 2015,
[update]
these DOWOP (days off without pay) were still in effect. Also in 2014, most CNHI newspaper sites put a paywall into place, requiring readers to subscribe after reading 5 articles.
On June 24, 2010, the company announced that it would relocate its headquarters and about 70 jobs to
Montgomery, Alabama
, into the
RSA
Dexter Tower Building when that building is complete in late 2011 or early 2012.
[8]
Like its former headquarters in Birmingham, the new building is owned by
RSA
, which is the principal source of investment funding for CNHI.
David G. Bronner
, CEO of
RSA
, said the move will be good for the community and the company.
The Montgomery Advertiser
newspaper reported that Bronner was a key player in the move. With CNHI's Birmingham lease expiring, the decision to bring the company to Montgomery "was something that I strongly suggested," he said, according to the newspaper. The city and Montgomery County offered $300,000 in incentives to pay moving costs for the company.
[8]
In April 2012, along with
GateHouse Media
,
Lee Enterprises
and the
E. W. Scripps Company
, CNHI invested in Find n Save, an online company which offers local media an online shopping platform.
[9]
On September 25, 2017,
Raycom Media
announced that it would merge with CNHI. Both companies are already principally owned by
RSA
, and there were to be administrative and content synergies between the properties. CNHI continued to operate as a subsidiary of Raycom. To comply with FCC newspaper cross-ownership restrictions, CNHI was to divest papers in the seven markets where Raycom also owns television stations.
[10]
[11]
[12]
In January 2018, CNHI announced it would be moving to a regional editor system where a small number of editors would oversee coverage of regions and states.
[13]
On June 25, 2018,
Gray Television
announced it would be acquiring Raycom's television assets. CNHI was not included in the sale to Gray and CNHI is currently seeking to sell off its newspapers, as a whole or piecemeal.
[14]
[15]
With the completion of the purchase on January 2, 2019, the newspapers were re-organized to a direct subsidiary of
RSA
as Raycom ceased to exist.
[16]
In May 2024, CNHI sold ten newspapers across Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi, along with a print facility, to Carpenter Media Group.
[17]
CNHI newspapers
[
edit
]
As can be inferred by its former name of Community Newspaper Holdings Inc., CNHI tends to acquire newspapers in smaller markets and
suburbs
of larger cities. As of December 2006
[update]
, few of its
dailies
had circulations above 20,000, including:
- The Eagle-Tribune
of
North Andover, Massachusetts
?49,700
[18]
- The Tribune-Democrat
of
Johnstown, Pennsylvania
?41,200
[19]
- The Joplin Globe
of
Joplin, Missouri
?30,600
[19]
- Cumberland Times-News
of
Cumberland, Maryland
?30,200
[19]
- The Salem News
of
Salem, Massachusetts
?30,000
[18]
- The Register-Herald
of
Beckley, West Virginia
?28,700
[19]
- Tribune-Star
of
Terre Haute, Indiana
?27,900
[19]
- The Herald Bulletin
of
Anderson, Indiana
?24,300
[19]
- Kokomo Tribune
of
Kokomo, Indiana
?21,900
[19]
- Mankato Free Press
of
Mankato, Minnesota
?21,700
[19]
- The Herald
of
Sharon, Pennsylvania
?20,400
[19]
- Bluefield Daily Telegraph
of
Bluefield, West Virginia
?20,400
[19]
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
Company History: Community Newspaper Holdings Inc.
at
Answers.com
(accessed March 31, 2010)
- ^
"Community Newspaper Holdings, Inc.: Private Company Information ? Businessweek"
.
investing.businessweek.com
. Archived from
the original
on October 20, 2009
. Retrieved
22 May
2012
.
- ^
"The Herald, Sharon, Pa"
. Retrieved
10 May
2016
.
- ^
"CNHI to acquire 6 dailies from Dow Jones"
.
CNHI
. November 1, 2006. Archived from
the original
on 2014-05-27
. Retrieved
May 26,
2014
.
- ^
"Dow Jones' Ottaway Community Newspaper Group To Acquire The Record --Stockton, CA--"
(Press release). 16 April 2003
. Retrieved
10 May
2016
.
- ^
"News Corp. sells 33 papers to New York investors"
.
New York Business Journal
. 2013-09-04
. Retrieved
2018-11-26
.
- ^
"MediaNews Group, Inc. acquires Santa Cruz Sentinel"
.
CNHI
. February 2, 2007. Archived from
the original
on 2014-05-27
. Retrieved
May 26,
2014
.
- ^
a
b
"Community Newspaper Holdings moving headquarters to Montgomery"
.
Burmingham Business Journal
. February 4, 2011
. Retrieved
May 26,
2014
.
- ^
"Find n Save Announces Additional Investment by Four More Major Media and Publishing Companies; Launch of 125th Affiliate"
.
MarketWatch
. Retrieved
22 May
2012
.
- ^
Eggerton, John (2017-09-25).
"Raycom Buying CHNI Newspapers"
.
Broadcasting & Cable
. Retrieved
2018-11-26
.
- ^
West, Ty (2017-09-25).
"Two Alabama media giants to join forces"
.
Birmingham Business Journal
. Retrieved
2017-09-27
.
- ^
Miller, Mark K. (2017-09-25).
"Raycom Sees Synergies In Newspapers Buy"
.
TVNewsCheck
. Retrieved
2017-09-27
.
- ^
"CNHI Publishing Company Forms Regional Editor System"
.
U.S. News & World Report
.
Associated Press
. 26 January 2018.
- ^
"CNHI explores sale of newspaper company"
.
Montgomery Herald
. 2018-07-02
. Retrieved
2018-11-26
.
- ^
"GRAY AND RAYCOM TO COMBINE IN A $3.6 BILLION TRANSACTION"
(PDF)
.
- ^
"CNHI explores sale of newspaper company"
.
Daily Journal
. 2019-01-03
. Retrieved
2019-01-03
.
[
permanent dead link
]
- ^
"Carpenter Media Group to acquire 10 titles and print facility from CNHI"
.
Editor & Publisher
. 2024-05-23
. Retrieved
2024-05-23
.
- ^
a
b
Audit Bureau of Circulation
"eCirc" data for six months ending September 30, 2006. Accessed December 10, 2006. Figures are approximate.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
i
j
CNHI-CAN Circulation
Archived
2016-02-17 at the
Wayback Machine
, figures for an undetermined date, accessed January 17, 2007. Figures are approximate.
Further reading
[
edit
]
External links
[
edit
]