Gannett joins dump-newspapers stampede

Gannett joins the crowd in sending its newspaper division into its own orbit to oblivion.

Gannett announced Tuesday it will spin off its newspaper and broadcasting divisions into two separate companies.

The company expects the publishing company, which will retain the Gannett name, to be virtually debt-free, with most of the company's debt being retained by the broadcasting company that will be renamed. 

Gannett will also acquire Cars.com, where it has a 23% stake.

Gannett, which owns USA Today and 81 local newspapers, will remain headquartered in McLean, Va., as will the broadcast company.

The separation is expected to be complete by mid-2015.

Gannett's announcement follows similar moves by other major media companies to spin off print divisions. 

The Tribune Company finalized the separation of its publishing business Monday, Time Warner spun off Time Inc. earlier this year, News Corp. spun off its newspaper assets, including The Wall Street Journal, last year, and E.W. Scripps and (Milwaukee) Journal Communications will merge and then create separate companies for their newspaper and broadcast operations.

The merged broadcast and digital media company, based in Cincinnati, will retain The E.W. Scripps Company name. 

The newspaper company will be called Journal Media Group and will combine Scripps’ daily newspapers, community publications and related digital products in 13 markets with Journal Communications’ Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Wisconsin community publications and affiliated digital products.

Scripps once owned the extinct Cleveland Press, Columbus Citizen-Journal and Youngstown Telegram.

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