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| Formerly | Booth Newspapers |
|---|---|
| Company type | Division |
| Industry | Publishing |
| Founded | 1893; 132 years ago (1893) |
| Founder | George Gough Booth and his 2 brothers |
| Headquarters | , United States |
Area served | Michigan |
Key people | Timothy D. Gruber (president) |
| Products | |
| Parent | Advance Publications |
| Website | www |
MLive Media Group, originally known asBooth Newspapers, orBooth Michigan, is a media group that producesnewspapers in the state ofMichigan. Founded byGeorge Gough Booth with his two brothers, Booth Newspapers was sold toAdvance Publications, aSamuel I. Newhouse property, in 1976.
MLive Media Group newspaper publications includeThe Ann Arbor News,The Bay City Times,The Flint Journal,The Grand Rapids Press,Jackson Citizen Patriot,Kalamazoo Gazette,Muskegon Chronicle,The Saginaw News, andAdvance Newspapers. The company also maintains newsrooms in Lansing and Detroit. All of Advance Publications' Michigan content is published on Mlive.com.
Booth Newspapers was founded byGeorge Gough Booth and his brothers in 1893 and was a media company based inGrand Rapids, Michigan. In 1976,Samuel Irving Newhouse Sr. ofAdvance Publications acquired Booth Newspapers for $305 million, the equivalent to $1,452,406,433 in 2021.[1]
The Herald Company, Inc. merged with Booth Newspapers, Inc. in July 1987.[2]
In September 2002, Booth Newspapers acquired21st Century Newspapers, Inc.'sHeritage Newspapers' Suburban Flint Newspaper Group which had nine local papers:Clio Messenger,Davison Flagstaff,Fenton Press,Grand Blanc News,Flint Township News,Flushing Observer,Holly Press,Suburban Burton, andSwartz Creek News, and includedSuburban Flint Shopper. All of these operated withThe Flint Journal as the Community Newspapers.[3]
In December 2006, the Herald Company, Inc. merged with Advance Magazine Publisher, Inc. but continues to operate under the Booth Newspapers name in Michigan.[4]
On November 3, 2008, the day before the2008 presidential election, many copies of Booth newspapers were delivered inside a white advertising wrapper, paid for by theNational Rifle Association, with "Defend Freedom, DefeatObama" written across the outside. The bags were mostly reported withThe Flint Journal, but there were also similar reports from customers ofThe Saginaw News andThe Bay City Times.[5]The Flint Journal posted a short apology on its website that stated that "The wrapper was supposed to be inserted into the newspaper."[6] TheJournal also toldWJRT-TV, who also received a flood of calls about the incident, that there was "some miscommunication" with the paper carriers.[5] The three papers mentioned endorsed Barack Obama for president.[7][8][9]
On March 23, 2009, Booth Newspapers announced inThe Ann Arbor News that it would end the paper's 174-year print run in July 2009, due to economic difficulties, and be replaced byAnnArbor.com, a daily web paper that will have a twice-weekly print edition.[10] Also on this date, Booth announced that beginning June 1, 2009,The Bay City Times,The Saginaw News, andThe Flint Journal would reduce publishing to three times a week (Thursday, Friday, and Sunday) while increasing their web presence;[11] the three newspapers would add a Tuesday edition in March 2010, withThe Bay City Times andThe Saginaw News sharing an edition.[12][13]
On February 2, 2012, Booth Newspapers split into two companies: MLive Media Group and Advance Central Services Michigan. MLive Group handles advertising and news for all newspapers and websites. Advance Central Services handles human resources, production, and distribution. At the same time, home delivery of Booth's remaining daily newspapers was reduced to Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays with subscribers receiving e-editions on the other days on which they print.[14]
Also in 2012, Mlive contracted with formerWEYI-TV meteorologist Mark Torregrossa to run the website's weather section with the expectation of increasing the section's views from 900,000 to 1 million. Instead by 2014, the section received on average 5 million to 6 million page views with a high in January 2014 of 13 million.[15]
In 2012, the former 21st Century Newspapers-owned papers in the Flint area had all ceased publication, although theClio Messenger had stopped publishing two years prior.
In 2013AnnArbor.com joined MLive Media Group, which was established in 2012 as the Michigan brand forAdvance Publications. At that time, AnnArbor.com's web presence was integrated with the other Michigan properties under the MLive.com URL and theAnnArbor.com newspaper returned to its historical identity asThe Ann Arbor News.
In 2019, a similar group of Booth/Advance/MLive-owned community newspapers in theGrand Rapids area, operating under the bannerAdvance Newspapers, also ceased publishing.[16]
In March 2020, MLive Media Group announced Tim Gruber as the President and Chief Revenue Officer.[17]
