Gannett to Acquire Hometown Communications NetworkBack to News

LIVONIA, MI, November 19, 2004 – Gannett Co., Inc. has agreed to acquire the assets of HomeTown Communications Network, Inc., a community publishing company with newspapers, telephone directories and other publications in Michigan, Ohio and Kentucky.

Terms of the deal, which is subject to regulatory review, were not disclosed. Dirks, Van Essen & Murray, a newspaper merger-and-acquisition firm in Santa Fe, New Mexico, represented HomeTown in the transaction.

HomeTown publishes one daily and 62 weekly and twice-weekly community newspapers, with an aggregate, audited circulation greater than 740,000. The company also publishes 24 community telephone directories with a total distribution of nearly 1.5 million. In addition, the company has a digital operation, as well as commercial typesetting and printing from four plants.

The newspaper group includes the Observer & Eccentric newspapers in suburban Detroit, the recently launched Daily Press & Argus in fast-growing Livingston County, Michigan, and non-daily groups in the suburban areas near Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky and Lansing, Michigan.

“HomeTown’s publications are an excellent fit with Gannett’s operations in these growth areas of Michigan, Ohio and Kentucky,” said Gary Watson, president of Gannett’s Newspaper Division. “We’re very pleased that company founder Philip Power and his wife Kathleen looked to Gannett when they decided to retire.”

“Gannett is one of the world’s largest newspaper companies, with a demonstrated track record of capable professional management, great financial stability and high community involvement. I wanted the newspapers, telephone directories and other publications that I spent so much of my career building to wind up in good hands after I left. I believe Gannett’s hands are the best available,” said Philip Power, HomeTown’s chairman.

HomeTown has approximately 780 employees. Revenues are expected to exceed $86 million in 2004. Gannett Co., Inc. is a leading international news and information company that publishes 101 daily newspapers in the U.S.

For further information contact Owen Van Essen or Phil Murray at Dirks, Van Essen & Murray, (phone) 505-820-2700, (fax) 505-820-2900, or visit our website at www.dirksvanessen.com.