ROCKFORD, Ill., April 13 (UPI) -- A fast-growing U.S. newspaper chain focusing on "hyper-local" journalism has bought The Register Star in Rockford, Ill., the newspaper said.
GateHouse Media Inc. of Fairport, N.Y., bought the 65,000-circulation daily from USA Today publisher Gannett Co. of McLean, Va., in a four-newspaper, $410 million deal that also includes the 26,000-circulation Norwich (Conn.) Bulletin; the 43,000-circulation (Utica, N.Y.) Observer-Dispatch; and the 30,000-circulation (Huntington, W.Va.) Herald-Dispatch.
The deal is expected to close by the end of the month, GateHouse said.
The newspapers will be among the largest in the GateHouse chain, which includes 84 daily papers in 19 states and more than 245 related Web sites.
"The exciting part of the transition to GateHouse is that it is a new media company and it is growing immensely," Register Star Publisher Fritz Jacobi said. "It has not been in business two years, and it will own almost 90 dailies."
GateHouse closed on a $380 million deal for nine newspapers from Copley Press Inc. Wednesday. That purchase included newspapers in Peoria, Ill. -- which became famous as a representation of the average U.S. city -- and the Illinois state capital, Springfield.
