Gannett exits Hawai'i, selling Honolulu Advertiser to Star-Bulletin

http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/20100225/BREAKING01/100225069/1352

http://www.starbulletin.com/news/bulletin/85438317.html

Star-Bulletin to buy all Advertiser assets except the building.

 

That is amazing. I never thought the Star-Bulletin would last that long after the JOA died, let alone get Gannett to cave.

 

I read on Gannett blog that in the company's latest SEC report they no longer refer to the company as a "leading" media company and now just say they are a media company. Figure they'll start selling every paper that they can't "cluster-ize" pretty quick.

 

What a sweet dish of karma. 15 years ago Gannett was gonna fold the Star-Bulletin, until the readers protested long enough for Conrad Black to step in. Now they're paddling off into the sunset.

 

Honolulu joins the ranks of one-newspaper towns, huh? Sad.

Hopefully they take care of the folks at the Advertiser ... lots of good people over there.

 

I'd expect about 50 Gannett papers to be sold or fold this year.

 

Why so many? And out of how many?

 

I can see some being sold or folding. Gannett loves this cluster thing they're doing, though it hasn't been effective (re: Gannett Louisiana). Some of the more isolated papers might not fit in Big G's plans.

 

They've talked for years about consolidating some of the papers they have in the cluster areas because they think they can take away one paper and then force another paper on readers, so they lose minimal revenue, while significantly cutting costs.

 

Interesting analysis here: http://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/Global/story.asp?S=12048230

Gannett's out of the only market where it faced print competition and Black gets himself a like-new printing plant, as opposed to the old and decrepit one he had before this.

Given that Gannett itself has been a clusterfuck for as long as I can remember, it's no surprise that they love "the cluster thing."