Journal Register Company to Acquire Taconic Media

Posted on May 20, 1998

Journal Register Company President Robert M. Jelenic announced that Journal Register Company has reached an agreement to acquire Taconic Media, Dutchess County, NY, from Helen and Hamilton Meserve. The acquisition includes seven weekly newspapers, a tourism guide, a weekend magazine, and Dutchess Magazine, a quarterly magazine covering lifestyle and dining in Dutchess County. Combined, Taconic Media has 231,600 non-daily distribution.

"Taconic Media will make an excellent addition to Journal Register Company and I am extremely pleased to announce this acquisition," Jelenic said. "We are building a seventh cluster, in the Mid-Hudson Region of New York, and Taconic Media will link our weekly operation in Putnam County with the Kingston Daily Freeman, which we are acquiring as part of the Goodson Newspaper Group. We expect excellent synergies among this growing cluster of newspapers. Dutchess County also abuts the Litchfield County portion of our Connecticut cluster, where we anticipate synergies with The Register Citizen in Torrington, as well as our weekly Housatonic newspapers covering Litchfield County." On Monday, May 18, Journal Register Company announced it had reached an agreement to acquire the Goodson Newspaper Group's Pennsylvania, New York and Ohio newspapers for $300 million. The Goodson acquisition includes five daily newspapers and 20 non-daily publications.

Taconic Media will be Journal Register Company's 13th acquisition since its formation in 1990, and the Company's sixth acquisition since its May 1997 initial public offering. The transaction is expected to be completed by June 30. Taconic Media weekly newspapers include the Gazette Advertiser, serving Rhinebeck, Red Hook and Clinton; Harlem Valley Times, serving NorthEast, Amenia and Dover; Hyde Park Townsman, serving Hyde Park and Clinton; Millbrook Round Table, serving Millbrook, Washington, Clinton and Union Vale; Register Herald, serving Pine Plains and Stanford; The Voice Ledger, serving Pleasant Valley, LaGrange and Beekman; and the Pawling News Chronicle, serving Pawling.