Gannett Co.

From the April 28, 1997 Washington Post

	'96 (in $ 000s)	% Change From '95
Revenue	4,421,107	18.1
Net Income	943,087	97.6
Rank Last Year: 6

Description:
Gannett is one of the world's largest diversified media companies. It owns 90 daily newspapers, including USA Today, making it the largest newspaper company in America. It also owns 16 TV stations, including WUSA (Channel 9 in Washington), and cable TV systems in five states.

Business Resume: Contact Info -- 1100 Wilson Blvd. Arlington, Va. 22234 703-284-6000 Main Business -- Media Founded -- 1906 Chairperson -- John J. Curley (CEO) President -- John J. Curley Employees -- 37,343 D.C.-Area Employees -- 2,700

Developments:
Robust advertising revenue at its many businesses and falling newsprint prices at its newspapers helped Gannett to a 16 percent increase in profit from continuing operations last year. One-time gains and other extraordinary items pushed net income close to the $1 billion mark for the year.

A portion of those gains came from the sale of Gannett's outdoor advertising subsidiary. The billboard unit, the largest in North America, fetched $710 million when it was bought by Outdoor Systems Inc. of Phoenix in a deal completed last summer.

Last fall Gannett agreed to swap its radio stations in California and Florida for Jacor Communications' TV station in Tampa. Earlier this month, Gannett said it planned to sell its radio-station group to Evergreen Media for $340 million.

In other deals, Gannett sold talk shows hosted by Sally Jessy Raphael and Jerry Springer to Seagram Co.'s MCA unit in November for an undisclosed price. Gannett had acquired the programs when it bought Multimedia Inc., a diversified media company, in late 1995 for $1.7 billion. Union employees who had been on strike against Gannett's Detroit News newspaper offered to return to work in February, ending a 19-month strike.