GateHouse to acquire Wisconsin Law Journal

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GateHouse Media has acquired Minneapolis-based publisher Dolan LLC, the owner of The Daily Reporter and the Wisconsin Law Journal. The sale is expected to close within the next several weeks.

The company announced the purchase of Dolan in tandem with the sale of the publisher of the Las Vegas Review-Journal and the purchase of another local unnamed media asset.

The sale of the Review-Journal and related publications came out to $140 million, while the two acquisitions came at a price tag of $46.5 million.

“We are thrilled to announce these three transactions and believe they demonstrate our continued commitment and ability to generate substantial returns for our shareholders,” Michael Reed, president and chief executive of New Media Investment Group, which owns GateHouse Media, said in a statement. “Although we are a net acquirer of local media businesses, we will opportunistically pursue transactions that are in the best interest of New Media’s shareholders.”

GateHouse, formerly Liberty Group Publishing, operates newspapers and associated websites in 32 states and hundreds of markets, according to Kirk Davis, GateHouse CEO. This includes 78 daily newspapers with a total paid circulation of about 547,00, and 235 weekly papers with a total paid circulation of about 282,000.

Dolan is in 17 U.S. markets and is composed of 39 print and online publications that report news concerning legal, financial and real estate matters, as well as government affairs. Additionally, Dolan also holds events centered on awards and education seminars.

“We are pleased to announce the agreement to acquire the Dolan assets and see a tremendous opportunity to leverage its publications and subscriber base across New Media’s footprint,” Reed said in the statement. “In addition to the valuable content Dolan provides to its readership base, we believe their subscribers, which are predominantly service oriented business owners, are the ideal customer for our fast-growing digital services business, Propel Marketing.”

Dolan’s more than 46,000 paid subscribers include attorneys, property owners, building contractors and other business professionals.

This is the latest announcement of media consolidations in Wisconsin. In October, Gannett Co. announced it planned to purchase Journal Media Group, the parent company of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.