CherryRoad Media

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Company type
Private
IndustryNews media
GenrePublishing
Founded2020
CherryRoad Media
Company type
Private
IndustryNews media
GenrePublishing
Founded2020
FounderJeremy Gulban
Headquarters6 Upper Pond Road, Parsippany, New Jersey,
United States
Key people
Lee Bachlet (COO)[1]
Revenue$30 million (2024)
Number of employees
500 (2024)
ParentCherryRoad Technologies Inc.
Websitecherryroad-media.com

CherryRoad Media is an American newspaper publisher and commercial printer based in New Jersey. It is the communications division of CherryRoad Technologies and was founded in 2020 by its CEO Jeremy Gulban. The company specializes in weekly publications in rural communities. It has received national media attention for rapidly buying and launching new titles amid the decline of newspapers.

As of May 2024, the company has acquired or started 85 newspapers across 18 states. Most of these papers print weekly, but three print five times a week and about a dozen print two or three times a week. CherryRoad Media employs about 500 people. Gulban said revenue will be an estimated $30 million for 2024.[2]

Expansion strategy

CherryRoad Media owns newspapers in rural communities across the United States, with a large number of them bought from Gannett, now USA Today co. Print circulations for these papers are typically in the hundreds to low thousands.[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.[3] When it comes to the total number of papers CherryRoad intends to own, Gulban said his goal is to have about 10 publications in every U.S. state.[5]

Some of the newspaper's CherryRoad has acquired were absorbed into titles with a larger circulation[6][7] or merged to create a new publication.[8][9] The company on at least four occasions launched new titles in markets where papers had recently shuttered, often hiring on staff from the closed papers.[10][11][5]

Newsroom operations

CherryRoad Media typically employs one or two people on the editorial-side of its newsrooms.[2] Small weeklies often have one full-time and one part time reporter. Larger papers have around two or three workers in the newsroom.[12] CherryRoad uses its own web-based content management system and its websites come equipped with a paywall.[13] Gulban said the company keeps regional and national content in 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.[13] CherryRoad uses several third-party software tools on the business-side of its newsrooms. The company employs the Community Publishing System, made by Software Consulting Services, to handle selling advertisements[14] and uses the Column software tool to manage public notices.[15]

Revenue streams

CherryRoad Media operates its newspapers with a low profit margin. Gulban said he could "get a steady 10% margin" from subscriptions and ad sales "and then drive other revenue at a higher margin out of it." The business is supplemented by offering technology services like creating and hosting websites.[4] The company offers “newspaper as a service” software, such as cloud-based storage and circulation systems.[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.[4] As of May 2024, the company has not turned a profit.[2]

Printing operations

CherryRoad Media owns four newspaper printing presses: the Hutchinson operation in Kansas,[20] Eagle Print in Ohio,[21] the News-Press & Gazette Company commercial printer in Missouri[22] and Page 1 Printers in Minnesota.[23] The printing of the company's papers are done at these sites, or else outsourced to other businesses.[13] As of 2025, only 10 of CherryRoad's papers are printed by a third-party.[24] The company also prints specialty publications at their facilities including magazines for school districts.[25] Due to rising costs and decrease in print demand, CherryRoad began exploring the use of digital printers for print runs less than 1,000 copies.[24]

History

Publications

References

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