Six years later, Plugh yielded a majority stake in what was now known as Enterprise NewsMedia to Heritage Partners Inc., an investment firm based in Boston, Massachusetts.

In 2006, Enterprise NewsMedia was sold to Liberty Publishing, which changed its name to GateHouse Media as part of a $225 million deal including Community Newspaper Company and its four Massachusetts dailies.

Headquartered in Fairport, N.Y., GateHouse is one of the largest publishers of locally based print and online media in the country as measured by its 86 daily publications.

In November 2013, GateHouse emerged from prepackaged Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings, less than two months after filing to restructure $1.2 billion of debt that was scheduled to come due in August 2014.

Secured lenders, whose debt was cancelled under the plan, received choice of shares in New Media or a 40 percent cash distribution.