GateHouse Completes $115 Million Deal For Morris Papers

By: E&P Staff Fairport, N.Y.-based GateHouse Media Inc. said Monday it had completed the purchase of 14 dailies from Morris Publishing Group for $115 million.

The purchase gives GateHouse increases its number of dailies to 101, and extends the chain's geographic reach from 19 states to 23.

The daily newspapers involved in the deal are the Dodge City (Kan.) Daily Globe; The Newton (Kan.) Kansan; The Morning Sun in Pittsburg, Kan.; the Hillsdale (Mich.) Daily News; The Holland (Mich.) Sentinel; the Hannibal (Mo.) Courier-Post; The Examiner in Independence, Mo.; The Grand Island (Neb.) Independent; the York (Neb.) News-Times; The Daily Ardmoreite in Oklahoma; The Shawnee (Okla.) News-Star; the Yankton (S.D.) Daily Press & Dakotan; The Oak Ridger in Tennessee; and the News Chief in Winter Haven, Fla.

Included in the non-dailies are La Estrella in Dodge City, Kan.; The Girard (Kan.) City Press; and the Vermillion (S.D.) Plain Talk. As part of the deal, GateHouse also acquired a commercial printing operation, Flashes Publishing, in Michigan, which publishes The Holland Sentinel and the Flashes Shopping Guides.