One of the largest newspaper groups in the U.S. It was founded by Frank Ernest Gannett (18761957), who in 1906 began buying small newspapers in upstate New York.
It was incorporated in 1923. Its stock was first publicly traded in 1967. In 1982 it began publishing USA Today , the first national general-interest newspaper in the U.S. By 2002 it owned about 94 daily papers, with a combined circulation of 7.7 million. Most are located in small and medium-sized cities; its larger papers include the Des Moines Register and the Detroit News . Its headquarters, formerly in Rochester, N.Y., are now in Arlington, Va. It also owns about 20 television stations.