| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | News media |
| Genre | Publishing |
| Founded | 2020 |
| Founder | Jeremy Gulban |
| Headquarters | 6 Upper Pond Road,Parsippany, New Jersey, |
Key people | Lee Bachlet (COO)[1] |
| Revenue | $30 million (2024) |
Number of employees | 500 (2024) |
| Parent | CherryRoad Technologies Inc. |
| Website | cherryroad-media |
CherryRoad Media is an Americannewspaper publisher and commercial printer based inNew Jersey. It is the communications division of CherryRoad Technologies and was founded in 2020 by its CEO Jeremy Gulban. The company specializes in weekly publications in rural communities. It has received national media attention for rapidly buying and launching new titles amid thedecline of newspapers.
As of May 2024, the company has acquired or started 85 newspapers across 18 states. Most of these papers print weekly, but three print five times a week and about a dozen print two or three times a week. CherryRoad Media employs about 500 people. Gulban said revenue will be an estimated $30 million for 2024.[2]
CherryRoad Media owns newspapers in rural communities across the United States, with a large number of them bought fromGannett. Print circulations for these papers are typically in the hundreds to low thousands.[3] The company acquired so many titles in its first two years of operation that in 2022 it owned the eighth largest number of newspapers in the United States.[4] CEO Jeremy Gulban has not publicly disclosed how much the company pays to acquire a newspaper, but in 2022 he said someone who wanted to buy a small weekly could probably do so for $100,000 or less.[3] When it comes to the total number of papers CherryRoad intends to own, Gulban said his goal is to have about 10 publications in every U.S. state.[5]
Some of the newspaper's CherryRoad has acquired were absorbed into titles with a larger circulation[6][7] or merged to create a new publication.[8][9] The company on at least four occasions launched new titles in markets where papers had recently shuttered, often hiring on staff from the closed papers.[10][11][5]
CherryRoad Media typically employs one or two people on the editorial-side of its newsrooms.[2] Small weeklies often have one full-time and one part time reporter. Larger papers have around two or three workers in the newsroom.[12] CherryRoad uses its own web-basedcontent management system and itswebsites come equipped with apaywall.[13] Gulban said the company keeps regional and national content in its papers to a minimum, excluding its daily newspapers, and focuses on local stories.[13]
The company tries to employ an advertising sales representative based in every market where they operate, but Gulban said he can't afford to hire local ad and page designers.[13] CherryRoad uses several third-party software tools on the business-side of its newsrooms. The company employs the Community Publishing System, made by Software Consulting Services, to handle sellingadvertisements[14] and uses the Column software tool to managepublic notices.[15]
CherryRoad Media operates its newspapers with a low profit margin. Gulban said he could "get a steady 10% margin" from subscriptions and ad sales "and then drive other revenue at a higher margin out of it." The business is supplemented by offering technology services like creating and hosting websites.[4] The company offers “newspaper as a service” software, such as cloud-based storage and circulation systems.[2] CherryRoad has sold off at least five newspapers and other kinds of publications to employees while in some instances continuing to provide software support to the new business owners.[16][17][18][19] To cut costs, CherryRoad will move a newly acquired newspaper's office to a cheaper location when the lease ends.[4] As of May 2024, the company has not turned a profit.[2]
CherryRoad Media owns four newspaper printing presses: the Hutchinson operation in Kansas,[20] Eagle Print in Ohio,[21] the News-Press & Gazette Company commercial printer in Missouri[22] and Page 1 Printers in Minnesota.[23] The printing of the company's papers are done at these sites, or else outsourced to other businesses.[13] As of 2025, only 10 of CherryRoad's papers are printed by a third-party.[24] The company also prints specialty publications at their facilities including magazines for school districts.[25] Due to rising costs and decrease in print demand, CherryRoad began exploring the use of digital printers for print runs less than 1,000 copies.[24]
In 1983, Michael Gulban started a technology company in New Jersey called DataStudy Inc. The business' name was changed 20 years later to CherryRoad Technologies,[5] which came from the firm's original address.[10] At first, the company was contracted to implement complex software andfinancial reporting systems, mostly for local government agencies. Over the years it became ashared web hosting service provider that offeredcloud computing programs to clients.[3][10]
Michael Gulban's son Jeremy Gulban, a graduate ofDrew University where he majored in economics and minored in political science,[10] took over operations in 2008[5] after working 10 years in Chicago.[3] After the onset of theCOVID-19 pandemic in the United States in 2020, CherryRoad created software applications forvirtual meetings andremote learning. The company offered them for free to school districts and local governments, but none were interested.[3] So Jeremy Gulban said the company turned its attention toward using the technology to improve community newspapers.[3]
In November 2020, Jeremy Gulban founded CherryRoad Media with the purchase of theCook County News-Herald, a weekly newspaper in Grand Marais, Minnesota.[5] The previous owners Hal and Deidre Kettunen had owned the newspaper since 2008.[26]
In June, CherryRoad purchased four weekly newspapers in Arkansas:The Mountaineer Echo of Flippin, theMarshall Mountain Wave, the ClayCounty Courier in Corning and thePocahontas Star Herald.[3]
CherryRoad tried to buy theInternational Falls Journal fromAlden Global Capital but the company chose to close the paper instead in June.[10][27] The paper had been published by the Minnesota-based Red Wing Publishing Co. which Alden acquired in 2020.[27] In response to the closure, CherryRoad launched theRainy Lake Gazette about three weeks later in July.[10][5]
The seventh newspaper the company acquired wasThe Clayton Record in Alabama.[28] The sale was completed in August.[29][30]
In September, CherryRoad purchased 20 publications fromGannett. The sale included 13 Kanas papers: theHays Daily News, theGarden City Telegram, theLeavenworth Times, theSt. John News, theKiowa County Signal, theDodge City Daily Globe, theMcPherson Sentinel, theButler County Times-Gazette, theWellington Daily News, theOttawa Times, theNewton Kansan, thePratt Tribune and thePenny Press in Hiawatha.[31] The Gannet sale also included two newspapers in Nebraska:Nebraska City News-Press andSyracuse Journal-Democrat; four Missouri papers:Independence Examiner,Chillicothe Constitution-Tribune,Boonville Daily News,Linn County Leader; and theHamburg Reporter in Iowa. The purchase of the newspapers went into effect Oct. 1.[32][31]
In December, CherryRoad purchased four Colorado newspapers from Gannett:La Junta Tribune-Democrat, the Fowler Tribune, Bent County Democrat andAg Journal.[33][34] That same month the CherryRoad Media announced its acquisition of seven rural Minnesota newspapers from Gannett: theCrookston Times,Granite Falls Advocate Tribune,Montevideo American-News,Redwood Falls Gazette,St. James Plaindealer,Sleepy Eye Herald-Dispatch and theTri-County News in Cottonwood.[35][5]
In January, CherryRoad founded its second start up newspaper,the Lake County Press, in Lake County, Minnesota.[5]
In February, CherryRoad purchased several Gannett-owned newspapers in Texas and Oklahoma. The Texas newspapers included:ShermanHerald Democrat,Waxahachie Daily Light,Stephenville Empire-Tribune,Brownwood Bulletin,Alice Echo-News Journal, Van Alstyne Leader, Anna-Melissa Tribune, Prosper Press, Grayson County Shopper, Midlothian Mirror, Runnels County Register, Glen Rose Reporter, Cross Timbers Trading Post andShop Local. The Oklahoma newspapers included: theDaily Ardmoreite in Ardmore and theShawnee News-Star.[36][37]
In March, CherryRoad purchased nine newspapers fromRust Communications. The sale included four newspapers in Missouri:Marshall Democrat-News,Monett Times,Cassville Democrat andSouth Missourian News in Thayer. Also sold were five newspapers in Arkansas:Carroll County News in Berryville,Lovely County Citizen in Eureka Springs,The News in Salem,Villager Journal in Cherokee Village andClay County Times-Democrat in Piggott.[38][39]
In September, CherryRoad purchased four weekly papers in Massachusetts from Gannett. The sale includedThe Landmark in Holden, theLeominster Champion, theMillbury-Sutton Chronicle andThe Grafton News. The acquisition averted the planned Sept. 15 closure ofThe Landmark.[40]
That same month CherryRoad acquired three weekly Utah newspapers from Brehm Communications Inc., includingThe Richfield Reaper,The Vernal Express and theUintah Basin Standard.[41] CherryRoad also boughtThe Chronicle-Express in New York from Gannett, saving the paper from closure.[42]
In November, CherryRoad purchasedThe McCall Star-News in Idaho from Central Idaho Publishing.[43] That same month CherryRoad purchasedThe Clinton Item, another Massachusetts paper, from Gannett.[44]
In December, CherryRoad sold several publications it had acquired earlier that year from Rust Communications. TheCarroll County News, the free weekly tabloidLovely County Citizen,shopperOzark Mountain Trader, and specialty publicationsEureka Springs Visitor andCurrents magazine were sold to Carroll County Community Media LLC, a partnership between Scott Loftis, David Bell and Steve Johnson.[45][16] TheCassville Democrat was sold to Kyle Troutman and Jordan Troutman.[46][17] TheMonett Times andConnection Magazine was sold to Lisa Craft.[47][18]
In February, CherryRoad acquired theMcPherson News Ledger and absorbed it into theMcPherson Sentinel.[6][48]
In April, CherryRoad soldThe Mountain Echo to Robert Lyons Jr. and Peggy Mason.[19][49]
In August, CherryRoad purchased several Kansas newspapers from the family ownedNews-Press & Gazette Company, including theMiami County Republic, theAtchison Globeand theHiawatha World. The sale also included two papers based in Liberty, Missouri: theCourier-Tribune and theGladstone Dispatch.[50] CherryRoad also acquired the company's commercial printing facility in St. Joseph, Missouri.[22]
Also in August, CherryRoad acquired the Hutchinson, Kansas, printing operations from Gannett. At the time, the facility printed most of CherryRoad's Kansas publications and other newspapers in the area.[20] That same month, CherryRoad acquired eight community newspapers and Eagle Print from Delphos Herald, Inc. The sale included Ohio papers theDelphos Herald,Van Wert Times Bulletin, thePutnam County Sentinel, thePaulding Progress, theAda Herald, thePutnam County Vidette,Monroe County Beacon andThe Register in Lawrenceburg, Indiana.[21]
In September, theVillager Journal of Cherokee Village and theSalem News, which CherryRoad purchased in February 2021, were merged into a single publication calledAreawide News.[8] ThePratt Tribune,Kiowa County Signal andSt. John News were merged to formTri-County Tribune. CherryRoad acquired all three papers in September 2021.[9] Ownership ofThe Fort Leavenworth Lamp, which was acquired from Gannett in 2021, was transferred toFort Leavenworth.[51] TheAG Journal ceased and theFowler Tribune was absorbed into theLa Junta Tribune Democrat following Gannett closingThe Pueblo Chieftain's printing operation.[7] TheAnna-Melissa Tribune andVan Alstyne Leader were absorbed intoThe Herald Democrat.[52][53]
In October, the company acquired theMoberly Monitor-Index from Westplex Media Group.[54]
In January, CherryRoad purchased Page 1 Printers, a commercial printer based inSlayton, Minnesota, from Graphic Arts Advisors, LLC.[23]
In April, the company announced plans to launch two new Minnesota papers inHutchinson andLitchfield. This was in response toMediaNews Group announcing the closure of theHutchinson Leader andLitchfield Independent Review. The newly createdHutchinson Station andLitchfield Rail launched in May.[55][11]
In June, the company announcedThe Gardner News in Kansas will close. The weekly newspaper founded in 1982 had been owned by CherryRoad since 2022. The paper had under 200 subscribers and lost money every month.[56] It was the last remaining community newspaper in its county.[57] In July, theLeominster Champion also ceased.[58]
In September, CherryRoad purchasedThe Savannah Reporter inSavannah, Missouri from the Rosenauer family.[59]
In October, CherryRoad purchasedThe Linbsborg News-Record from Main Street Media.[60]
In December, CherryRoad acquired eight Missouri newspapers from Lakeway Publishers Inc. The sale included theCentralia Fireside Guard, Elsberry Democrat, Hermann Advertiser Courier, Lincoln County Journal,Lake Gazette in Monroe City,Pike County News, Troy Free Press andVandalia Leader.[61] That same month, it was announced CherryRoad sometime during the year had become a member of theNews Media Alliance.[62]
In February, CherryRoad closed theCrookston Daily Times. The closure came after the company struggled to find workers and the City of Crookston chose to move its legal notices to theThief River Falls shopper.[63]
In March, the company purchasedThe Tower News andCook News-Herald in Minnesota.[64]
In August, CherryRoad announced it will launchThe Trenton Telegraph in Missouri. The paper will operate under a community ownership model supported by the Grundy County Industrial Development Corporation.[65] The paper launched in September.[66]
In November, CherryRoad announced a deal to license its content management system called LocalRoad toOgden Newspapers.[67]