It has received national media attention for rapidly buying and launching new titles amid the decline of newspapers.
[2] CherryRoad Media owns newspapers in rural communities across the United States, with a large number of them bought from Gannett.
[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.
[13] Gulban said the company keeps regional and national content it 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.
[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.
[10] At first, the company was contracted to implement complex software and financial reporting systems, mostly for local government agencies.
Over the years it became a shared web hosting service provider that offered cloud computing programs to clients.
[3] After the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States in 2020, CherryRoad created software applications for virtual meetings and remote learning.
[3] In November 2020, Jeremy Gulban founded CherryRoad Media with the purchase of the Cook County News-Herald, a weekly newspaper in Minnesota.
[3] CherryRoad tried to buy the International Falls Journal from Alden Global Capital but the company chose to close the paper instead in June.
[30] The Gannet sale also included two newspapers in Nebraska: Nebraska City News-Press and Syracuse Journal-Democrat; four Missouri papers: Independence Examiner, Chillicothe Constitution-Tribune, Boonville Daily News, Linn County Leader; and the Hamburg Reporter in Iowa.
[31][30] In December, CherryRoad purchased four Colorado newspapers from Gannett: La Junta Tribune-Democrat, the Fowler Tribune, Bent County Democrat and Ag Journal.
[32][33] That same month the CherryRoad Media announced its acquisition of seven rural Minnesota newspapers from Gannett: the Crookston Times, Granite Falls Advocate Tribune, Montevideo American-News, Redwood Falls Gazette, St. James Plaindealer, Sleepy Eye Herald-Dispatch and the Tri-County News in Cottonwood.
The Texas newspapers included: Sherman Herald 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 and Shop Local.
The sale included four newspapers in Missouri: Marshall Democrat-News, Monett Times, Cassville Democrat and South Missourian News in Thayer.
[39] That same month CherryRoad acquired three weekly Utah newspapers from Brehm Communications Inc., including The Richfield Reaper, The Vernal Express and the Uintah Basin Standard.
[19][48] In August, CherryRoad purchased several Kansas newspapers from the family owned News-Press & Gazette Company, including the Miami County Republic, the Atchison Globe and the Hiawatha World.
The closure came after the company struggled to find workers and the City of Crookston chose to move its legal notices to the Thief River Falls shopper.