Credit: Shashi Bellamkonda
Gannett, the company that owns the Bucks County Courier Times and Doylestown Intelligencer, is restructuring their operations.
The company will split into two operating units – Gannett Media and Digital Marketing Solutions. One will focus on the print and digital news operations and the other will focus on business-to-business marketing services, including advertising.
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The company’s statement did not note whether the changes would impact jobs.
Gannett operates their Bucks County hub out of the One Oxford Valley building in Middletown Township.
Michael Reed, Gannett’s CEO, celebrated the move and said it will improve “the efficiency of our operations” and “will enable the acceleration of Gannett’s digital future.”
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As the print side of the business has shrunk, Gannett has put emphasis on digital news subscriptions and its business-to-business marketing services. One advantage the marketing services staff has is the existing databases of the newspaper’s advertisers built up over decades.
Gannett employees were told of the change via a memo and a company-wide video message on Wednesday.
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A company-wide memo said the move to create two separate operating units are a “critical leap forward on our transformation journey.”
At the first quarter earnings call, Gannett executives announced the company continued to lose money, but the loss of print advertising declines has slowed from close to 10 percent to roughly 4 percent.
Gannett, which owns hundreds of local papers and USA Today, did boast of subscription growth of 118,000 customers over the first quarter, totaling 1.75 million. The company has drawn new subscribers with low introductory rates as part of an all-in focus on the revenue stream.
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At the end of April, the Bucks County Courier Times and Doylestown Intelligencer ended their Monday print newspaper. The local newspapers now print five days per week.
The move followed years of local cost cutting by Gannett. Staff in Bucks County has been slashed by more than 75 percent, its Falls Township printing facility closed, delivery drivers were laid off, and local news coverage has been notably reduced since the local Calkins family sold the newspapers in 2017.
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As part of a plan to save hundreds of millions of dollars per year, Gannett has implemented cuts across the company, sold or closed less-read newspapers and magazines, and sold off property.
Gannett still has more than $1 billion in debt from its merger with Gatehouse Media.
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