Enfield Independent

Newsquest Media Group Ltd. is the second largest publisher of regional and local newspapers in the United Kingdom. It is owned by the American mass media holding company Gannett'', and ''Boxing News''.

History

Newsquest was founded in 1995 when U.S. private equity partnership Kohlberg Kravis Roberts financed a £210 million management buy-out of the Reed Regional Newspapers group of British papers from Reed Elsevier.

In 1996 Newsquest swapped its Yorkshire titles for Johnston Press’s Bury, Lancashire area titles and £9.25 million, sold some of its titles in the English Midlands to Midland Independent Newspapers and bought the Westminster Press local newspapers group for £12.3 million from Pearson, owner of Penguin Books and the ''Financial Times'', resulting in Newsquest doubling in size. The next year it floated on the London Stock Exchange, realising a market capitalisation of £500 million. In 1998, Newsquest added the Sussex-based ''Contact-a-Car'', the ''London Property Weekly'' titles, two titles in the North West of England, and three ''Review'' Group titles in Hertfordshire.

In 1999, the US Gannett media group's newly formed UK subsidiary paid £922 million (about US $1.5 billion) for Newsquest and took on the company’s debt. In 2000, Gannett-based News Communications and Media’s South Coast dailies and weeklies – and its Southernprint magazine printing division – to add to Newsquest’s portfolio. It also picked up the regional newspapers business – outside Manchester – of the Guardian Media Group, a takeover that the Competition Commission cleared as there was "no overlap, in the companies' circulation areas".

In 2001, Newsquest bought Surrey and Sussex Publishing and Horley Publishing, publishers of ''Gatwick Life'' and ''Horley Life'' and the Dimbleby Newspaper Group’s nine Greater London weeklies, including the ''Richmond and Twickenham Times'' for a reported £8 million.

In 2003, Gannett UK paid £216 million for the Scottish Media Group’s three newspapers – Glasgow’s ''Herald'', ''Sunday Herald'' and ''Evening Times again inquired into this purchase, but later cleared it.

In 2005, Newsquest’s ''Exchange Enterprises'' division paid £50.25 million for ''Exchange and Mart'' and ''Auto Exchange'' from ''United Advertising Publications'' after the small ads weeklies' publisher's parent, United Business Media, decided to concentrate on its 'core activities'.

Newsquest also owned the formerly-named '' Brentford, Chiswick and Isleworth Times'', later known as the ''Hounslow and Brentford Times'', which closed in 2010.

On 11 December 2006, Gannett denied having plans to sell Newsquest, contradicting a story in the previous day's ''Sunday Express'' that claimed the media giant was carrying out a company review with the Credit Suisse investment bank, and could sell Newsquest for up to £1.5 billion. Gannett had replied by saying: "There is no truth in the report. Newsquest is a valuable part of the Gannett company."

On 2 July 2007, in his blog on ''The Guardian''’s website, media analyst Roy Greenslade revealed the content of a Newsquest company memo which acknowledged that its staff pension scheme was £65 million in deficit. Members of the company’s workforce were given the options of increasing their contributions (from 6% to 10%) to keep the same final salary scheme, paying in less for an inferior version, opting for a ‘money purchase’ scheme; or ditching their pension altogether.

The company’s U.S. parent Gannett titles' websites downloadable supermarket coupons which could be redeemed for a range of goods at major supermarket chains, with plans to roll out the scheme to its other publications.

In March 2012, ''The Guardian'' reported the results of an indicative ballot held by the National Union of Journalists among its members at Newsquest, which found that more than 80% were prepared to strike if they were not given a pay rise within the year.

In April 2014, following CEO/Chairman Paul Davidson's retirement, Henry Faure Walker was appointed CEO at Newsquest.

In November 2014, publication began of '' The National'', a Scottish daily newspaper that supports Scottish independence.

On 26 May 2015, Newsquest announced that it had acquired Romanes Media Group, a local news publishing business operating in Scotland, Berkshire and Northern Ireland, for an undisclosed sum. The Romanes newspaper portfolio comprises one daily, 19 weekly paid-fors and nine weekly frees, and associated websites, and the company employs 270 staff.

On 28 April 2016, Newsquest announced that the latest comScore figures (Feb 2016) showed that users spend more time per month on Newsquest sites than any other regional press group. Newsquest has a digital audience of 28 million unique users including the Scottish jobs websit
s1jobs.com

In March 2022, Newsquest acquired the Archant group of regional newspapers from RCapital.

July 2007 industrial disputes at Newsquest's Scottish titles

On July 2007, the UK’s Competition Commission reported that it was investigating allegations made by SNP MP for Pert