Newspaper Buyers Move Above the Fold – July 2026 M&A Activity

For 15 years, The Target Report has examined M&A activity across the printing, packaging and related graphic communications industries. Last July, I invited our first-ever guest author of The Target Report, Sara April, President of Dirks, Van Essen & April, to provide a closer look at the market for local newspapers, an industry that remains closely connected to the broader printing business.

That connection is particularly personal for Sara. She grew up with a sheetfed printing press in the basement of her family home, where her parents operated a small print shop. The tell-tale smell of ink and blanket wash meant home to her. After joining Dirks, Van Essen & April in 2006, she went on to spend the next 20 years working on newspaper transactions and touring pressrooms across the country, from the Boston Globe’s iconic facility on Morrissey Boulevard and the flexo press that ran in Atlantic City to a tiny basement pressroom in Minnesota with a dirt floor. Every newspaper had its own story, dedicated crew, and lore. One even had a gun safe filled with silver bars.

The newspaper industry has changed dramatically during that time. Print circulation and advertising revenue have declined, production has consolidated, and many local publishers have struggled with rising costs and limited scale. Those changes have directly affected newspapers’ ancillary commercial printing operations, helped drive the growth of regional printing hubs, and rippled upstream to paper manufacturers, while also reshaping who owns and operates local news organizations.

I asked Sara to return as a guest author of The Target Report this July to provide an update on newspaper transactions and, more importantly, to step back from the individual deals and consider what the activity says about the changing nature of newspaper ownership. As she explains below, one of the most striking features of today’s market is not simply that newspapers continue to change hands, but the remarkably varied group of people and organizations that still want to own them.

– Mark

The Buyers Are the Story

By Sara April, Guest Author

For years, consolidation was one of the easiest ways to describe newspaper M&A. A relatively small group of well-capitalized newspaper companies acquired independent publishers, assembled regional clusters, consolidated production and administrative functions, and built scale.

That is still happening. But after looking at the transactions we have completed and tracked over the past year, what strikes me is how incomplete that description has become. So far in 2026, we have tracked 42 separate transactions involving more than 120 titles and 36 different buyers. In 2025, 172 titles changed hands in 62 transactions involving 52 buyers. The number that interests me most is not the number of newspapers sold. It is the number of buyers.

Of the 36 buyers in our 2026 transaction log, only four have completed more than one acquisition. Nelson Media Company and CherryRoad Media each have completed three, while Forum Communications Company and Times Media Group have completed two. The remaining 32 buyers appear only once.

That does not look much like the consolidation cycles of the past, when two or three companies could account for a significant portion of the newspapers sold in a given year. Instead, newspaper M&A today increasingly resembles a market in which each property must find its own next owner.

Different Buyers, Different Reasons

There is no longer a standard profile of a newspaper buyer. Traditional newspaper companies remain active. Paxton Media Group, CherryRoad Media, Forum Communications, Times Media Group and others continue to acquire publications that fit their geographic footprints and operating strategies. For example, USA Today Co. (formerly known as Gannett) acquired an additional newspaper in Michigan, while the Chicago Tribune acquired the Daily Herald in suburban Chicago.

The Daily Herald transaction is a particularly interesting example of how newspaper consolidation has evolved. The publication traces its roots to 1872 and remained under four generations of Paddock family ownership before becoming employee-owned through an ESOP in 2018. Its eventual sale to the Chicago Tribune followed an earlier transaction in which the Tribune acquired the Daily Herald’s Schaumburg production facility in 2023 and became its printer and distributor. In that case, production consolidated before ownership did.

But traditional newspaper companies represent only one category of buyer today. Our 2026 list includes the new breed of nonprofit journalism organizations, individual entrepreneurs, local business owners, newly formed media companies and even chambers of commerce.

NEWSWELL, the nonprofit local-news organization affiliated with Arizona State University, took ownership of four Chicago-area community newspapers donated by Growing Community Media. Its model combines locally focused journalism with shared business, technology and revenue resources across its network. The Venetoulis Institute for Local Journalism, the nonprofit behind the Baltimore Banner, acquired the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette after 99 years of Block family ownership. The Georgia Trust for Local News acquired newspapers in Macon and Columbus.

In Missouri and Louisiana, local chambers of commerce have become newspaper owners. Other publications have gone to individual buyers or small organizations whose names would never have appeared on a list of national newspaper consolidators a decade ago. This is the part of the market I continue to find remarkable. The economic challenges facing local newspapers are well documented, yet the buyer universe has not contracted to a small circle of industry specialists. In many ways, it has expanded.

Local Value Creates Local Buyers

One reason may be that the value of a community newspaper is not necessarily measured the same way by every buyer. A large newspaper company may see opportunities for regional scale, shared management, centralized production, or broader advertising relationships. An entrepreneur may see an underperforming business that can be rebuilt. A nonprofit may value the civic function of local journalism. A local family or community organization may view the newspaper as an institution worth preserving. Those motivations can lead to very different valuations and very different transaction structures.

The July acquisition of the Chattanooga Times Free Press by the Fuller family illustrates the point. The 157-year-old newspaper, which helped launch the career of Adolph S. Ochs before he purchased The New York Times in 1896, is returning to local ownership after being acquired from WEHCO Media. The Fullers are not traditional newspaper consolidators. They are one of Chattanooga’s best-known entrepreneurial families, associated with businesses including U.S. Xpress, Covenant Transport, Transcard, FreightWaves, and Firecrown Media. Their investment thesis is therefore different from that of a newspaper chain adding another property to an existing cluster. Craig Fuller has said the objective is to restore the Times Free Press to profitability while investing in the publication for future generations.

The combination of economic discipline paired with local commitment is increasingly important in newspaper transactions.

A Different Kind of Consolidation

None of this means consolidation has ended. Newspapers still need scale. Printing and distribution continue to consolidate. Administrative functions are shared across larger footprints. Regional operators continue to build clusters because the economics often work better when management, production and other costs can be spread across multiple publications. But ownership itself is becoming more varied.

Of the transactions we have tracked to date this year, a remarkable 37 out of 42 involve community newspapers. Only four are classified as regional transactions and one as national. The center of M&A activity remains the small and midsized local publication, where ownership transitions are often as much about succession as consolidation. That changes the role of the transaction process. Selling a newspaper today is often not simply a matter of finding the highest multiple from another newspaper company. It can mean identifying the buyer whose resources, geography, operating capabilities, or community commitment best fit a particular publication.

For longtime family owners, that distinction matters. Many are selling businesses that have been associated with their families for generations. The newspaper may employ longtime staff members, occupy a highly visible place in town, and carry a public responsibility that feels different from selling most other businesses. Finding the next owner can therefore become part financial transaction, part succession planning, with an added dose of community responsibility.

A Durable Shift

The newspaper industry has spent much of the past two decades talking about what it has lost: circulation, advertising revenue, classified advertising, print frequency and, in many communities, newspapers themselves. Those losses are real.

But M&A activity reveals another side of the story. There are still people willing to invest their money, time, and reputations in local news. Some are established newspaper companies. Others are entrepreneurs, nonprofits, local families, civic organizations, or buyers entering the business for the first time. A year ago, I wrote about the unusually broad pool of newspaper buyers. I expected that diversity to continue. What I did not necessarily expect was for it to become such a durable feature of the market. It has.

The most interesting question in newspaper M&A today may therefore no longer be: Who is consolidating the industry? Increasingly, it is: Who wants to own this particular newspaper, and why? The answers differ from one community to the next. And that may ultimately be one of the reasons local newspapers continue to find new owners.

   

	2026 July - Mergers and Acquisitions in the Printing, Packaging, Paper & Related Industries
	Deal Party #1 (Surviving Entity)	Pre-Deal Revenue (US$Mil)	Party #1 Address	Deal Party #2	Pre-Deal Revenue (US$Mil)	Party #2 Address	Date Deal Public	Deal Value (US$Mil)	Deal Structure (Intermediary)	Notes	Press Links
	Specialty Print Communications	$125.7	Niles, IL	CPS Cards	No Data	Glendale Heights, IL	7/31/26	No Data	Acquisition (Graphic Arts Advisors)	Specialty card services	Link
	Fuller Family	No Data	Chattanooga, TN	Chattanooga Times Free Press (Prop. WEHCO Media)	No Data	Chattanooga, TN	7/30/26	No Data	Acquisition (Dirks, Van Essen & April)	Community newspaper	Link
	Rickland Direct	No Data	Ashland, VA	Owen Printing	No Data	Petersburg, VA	7/24/26	No Data	Acquisition	Commercial printing	Link
	IXL Graphics	No Data	Taylor,MI	Mel Printing (dba Print Bind Ship)	No Data	Taylor, MI	7/19/26	No Data	Acquisition	Commercial printing	Link
	Marth Group	No Data	Brooklyn Park, MI	Sandy Alexander	$101.0	Clifton, NJ	7/15/26	No Data	Article 9 Acquisition (SSG Capital Advisors)	Commercial printing	Link
	Stahls' (Sub. GroupeStahl)	No Data	St. Clair Shores, MI	Siser	No Data	Vicenza, Italy	7/15/26	No Data	Acquisition	Heat transfer vinyl substrates	Link
	Moss (Div. of Vomela) (Port co. The Riverside Company)	No Data	Franklin Park, IL	Sign Up Systems	No Data	Nottinghamshire, UK	7/15/26	No Data	Acquisition	Wide-format structure graphics	Link
	TerraNova Partners	No Data	Toronto, ON	TI Group	No Data	Toronto, ON	7/15/26	No Data	Acquisition	Commercial & retail display	Link
	Georgia Trust for Local News (Sub. National Trust for Local News)	No Data	Dublin, GA	The Macon Telegraph (+1 title) (Prop. McClatchy Media)	No Data	Macon, GA	7/14/26	No Data	Acquisition	Community Newspapers	Link
	KKR & Co.	No Data	New York, NY	Global Print Business (Div. Thomson Reuters)	$490.0	Toronto, ON	7/14/26	$500.0	Joint Venture	Publishing & book mfg.	Link
	Data Communications Management	$322.2	Brampton, ON	Octacom Limited	$16.5	Richmond Hill, ON	7/9/26	$38.7	Acquisition	Document processing	Link
	Durst Group	$500.5	Brixen, Italy	Triple C Labs	No Data	Saarbrücken, Germany	7/8/26	No Data	Acquisition	Print device workflow system	Link
	Jessup Manufacturing	No Data	McHenry, IL	D&K Coating Technologies	No Data	Janesville, WI	7/1/26	No Data	Acquisition	Flexible substrate coating	Link
	Artisan Colour	No Data	Scottsdale, AZ	Schuster Print Marketing	No Data	Tempe, AZ	7/1/26	No Data	Acquisition	Commercial printing & promo	Link
	Heidelberger Druckmaschinen	$24,400	Heidelberg, Germany	Polar (Port co. SOL Capital Management)	No Data	Hofheim, Germany	7/1/26	No Data	Acquisition	Cutting & finishing machines	Link

   

	2026 July - Bankruptcy Filings in the Printing, Packaging, Paper & Related Industries
	Filing Party	Date Case Filed	Pre-Petition Revenue (US$Mil)	Case #	Filing Party Address	Circuit	Region & City	Judge	Attorney for Debtor	Notes
	Chapter 11 Filings:
	Conolly Printing & Media Group Inc	7/22/26	No Data	26-20568	Rochester, NY	2nd	Western NY Buffalo	Carl L. Bucki	Michael S. Baker	Commercial printing
	Phoenix Converting, Inc. dba Flex Pack (Port. Co. The  Edgewater Funds)	7/20/26	No Data	26-11935	Itasca, IL	7th	Northern IL Chicago	David D. Cleary	Adam P. Silverman	Flexible packaging
	Phoenix Press, LLC dba Phoenix Innovate	7/14/26	No Data	26-47856	Troy, MI	6th	Eastern MI Detroit	Thomas J. Tucker	Ryan Heilman	Commercial print & marketing
	Chapter 7 Filings:
	New Print Factory	7/9/26	No Data	26-15530	Corona, CA	9th	Central CA	Magdalena Reyes Bordeaux	Young K. Chang	Commercial printing

 

	2026 July - Non-Bankruptcy Closures in the Printing, Packaging, Paper & Related Industries
	Closed Company / Facility	Date of Closure	Pre-Closure Revenue (US$Mil)	Closing Address	Related Party	Related Party Address	Date Closure Public	Notes	Press Links
	International Paper - Packaging facility	Sep-26	No Data	Carrolltone, TX	International Paper	Memphis, TN	7/16/26	Corrugated box production	Link
	BNP Empowered Print (Formerly Buffalo Newspress)	Jul-26	No Data	Buffalo, NY	None	N/A	7/9/25	Retail inserts & grocery fliers	Link

Corrugated Demand Gets Cut Down to Size – June 2026 M&A Activity

Transformative technology moves corrugated box production downstream, consolidation continues apace, and legacy converting plants are shuttered.

Packsize, Box Innovator, Acquires Panotec

Right-sized packaging pioneer Packsize, based in Salt Lake City, Utah, is expanding its reach and impact on corrugated packaging usage patterns with the acquisition of its competitor, Panotec. Both the buyer and the seller have been innovators in the business of designing and manufacturing machines that make uniquely sized boxes to order, on-site, at or near the point where the boxes will be used. Right-sized box production reduces the amount of corrugated material used, minimizes void fill (such as crumpled paper, air pillows, or foam materials), and sharply reduces the space and working capital devoted to inventories of premade boxes.

The acquired company, Italy-based Panotec, manufactures automation systems for right-sized packaging. Packsize said the combination will expand its machine offerings and increase its installed customer base across more than 50 countries. The deal follows Packsize’s April 2025 acquisition of Sparck Technologies, a producer of high-throughput fit-to-size systems based in the Netherlands. Together, the transactions expand Packsize into a global provider of right-sized packaging automation.

The Box Plant Moves Downstream

The traditional corrugated supply chain separates box production from product fulfillment. A box plant converts containerboard or corrugated sheets into finished cartons, ships them to the customer, and leaves the customer in a position needing to store an assortment of sizes. The system works well when a shipper uses large quantities of predictable box styles. It becomes less efficient when the order profile includes thousands of products with widely varying dimensions, as is the norm with much online shopping.

Right-sizing technology changes where the final conversion from sheet to box takes place. Continuous fanfold corrugated is loaded into a machine at the warehouse or production site. Product dimensions can be entered manually or provided via a barcode or a warehouse management system. Sophisticated software takes over and plans out all the scores and cuts required to produce the custom-size box in real time. The machine selects an available board width and then uses a series of wheels and blades to cut, score, and crease the material into the required pattern. Depending on the machine configuration, complex downstream equipment may also form, close, seal, print, or label the package. Packsize and Panotec offer systems designed for batch sizes as small as one, with a different box for each successive order.

The inherent efficiency is easy to understand. Instead of choosing the least-wrong carton from a rack of standard sizes, the operator produces a custom box intended for the item being shipped. Less empty space in the box generally means less corrugated, less void fill, and a smaller shipping cube. In many instances, these systems reduce warehouse space and free up working capital tied up in finished-box inventories. The value proposition is not simply a better carton; it is a packing operation reorganized around data, automation, and material flow. Parcel volume can increase without a corresponding increase in corrugated square footage. The machine is not replacing the box so much as removing the excess box.

The Packsize-Panotec transaction concerns who controls the design, production timing, and economics of the package. A conventional converter delivers a completed box. A right-sizing system delivers the ability to create the box. More value migrates from manufacturing and inventory toward machinery, software, integration, and a continuing supply of fanfold corrugated. Waste is reduced, and as a consequence, demand for corrugated is moderated as right-sizing technology is implemented.

Not Every Box Wants to Be Unique

For the corrugated industry, the implication is more complicated. Right-sizing machines do not eliminate corrugated demand. They consume fanfold board and create recurring opportunities in material supply, technical service, software, and equipment support. Nonetheless, the systems are designed to reduce the amount of corrugated used for a given shipment.

Conventional box production will not be reduced across the board. High-volume products with stable dimensions will continue to be best served by containers produced in long runs. Retail-ready packaging, high-graphics work, specialty coatings, complex die cuts, and demanding protective structures will remain the domain of experienced converters. Automated systems also require capital, floor space, maintenance, dependable software, and corrugated material that is engineered to run consistently in varied environments.

The right-sizing technology is most compelling where variability creates waste: e-commerce fulfillment, third-party logistics, replacement parts, industrial products, and operations with a long tail of low-volume SKUs. In those settings, the ability to make a single appropriately sized box can be more valuable than the lowest unit cost of a stock carton. Traditional plants will continue to produce large runs, decorated packaging, and boxes for uniquely shaped or fragile products. A growing portion of variable, short-run work will be converted closer to the packing line.

International Paper Redraws the Map

While Packsize is moving the final conversion of corrugated closer to the packing line, International Paper is concentrating conventional box production into a smaller number of facilities. Just four days before the Panotec announcement, International Paper said it would close its Aurora, Illinois, sheet plant and converting plants in Elk Grove, California, and Barrington, New Jersey, while ending preprint operations in Richwood, Kentucky. The closures are expected to be completed by the end of the third quarter, with affected production transferred to other facilities in the same regions. These four closures are in addition to six plant closures announced by International Paper in the past twelve months. (See The Target Report: Corrugated Sheet and Box Production – October 2025).

International Paper described the actions as part of a broader effort to optimize its network, strengthen its cost position, and focus investment on higher-value opportunities. At the same time that International Paper has proceeded with a slew of closures over the past year, the company has begun construction of a 468,000-square-foot corrugated packaging plant in Brandon, Mississippi. The $225 million greenfield project is intended to strengthen its Mid-South network. It is a clear indication that the company is committed to corrugated production. International Paper is not simply reducing its box-making footprint; it is concentrating capacity in larger, more modern facilities, while closing numerous smaller facilities.

The K-Shaped Future of Corrugated

Packsize’s move adds machinery and technology. International Paper’s actions subtract locations while adding modern capacity elsewhere. One decentralizes part of the converting process; the other concentrates conventional production into a tighter network. Together, they point to an industry in which advantage comes from controlling waste and delivering the right box for the job at hand, rather than merely from making more boxes.

Corrugated demand is changing. The oversized carton, the excessive box inventory, and the redundant plants are all being brought into question: how much corrugated production capacity will be required to deliver packages? Increasingly, the answer is being cut down to size.

   

	2026 June - Mergers and Acquisitions in the Printing, Packaging, Paper & Related Industries
	Deal Party #1 (Surviving Entity)	Pre-Deal Revenue (US$Mil)	Party #1 Address	Deal Party #2	Pre-Deal Revenue (US$Mil)	Party #2 Address	Date Deal Public	Deal Value (US$Mil)	Deal Structure (Intermediary)	Notes	Press Links
	Packsize (Port co. Peterson Partners)	No Data	Salt Lake City, UT	Panotec	No Data	Cimadolmo, Italy	6/30/26	No Data	Acquisition	Right-sized boxes on demand	Link
	Roadrunner Publications	No Data	Valley Center, CA	The Community Paper	No Data	Escondido, CA	6/27/26	No Data	Acquisition	Community newspaper	Link
	Nazdar	No Data	Shawnee, KS	Screen & Flexo NA Ink Business (Div Fujifilm North America)	No Data	Valhalla, NY	6/25/26	No Data	Acquisition	Screen & flexo inks	Link
	Heidelberger Druckmaschinen	$2,680	Heidelberg, Germany	Manroland - Parts & Service (Sub. Langley Holdings)	No Data	Offenbach am Main, Germany	6/24/26	No Data	Acquisition	Sheetfed press service & parts	Link
	Flagship Press	No Data	North Andover, MA	Kase Printing	No Data	Hudson, NH	6/22/26	No Data	Acquisition (Graphic Arts Advisors)	Book & commercial printing	Link
	Mittera	$511.0	Des Moines, IA	Phoenix Lithographing	$139.0	Philadelphia, PA	6/18/26	No Data	Asset Acquisition	Commercial printing	Link
	United Envelopes (Port co. Centergate Capital)	No Data	Ridgefield, NJ	Love Envelopes	No Data	Tulsa, OK	6/12/26	No Data	Acquisition (Founders Advisors)	Envelope manufacturing	Link
	Spiller family	No Data	Battle Ground, WA	The Reflector	No Data	Battle Ground, WA	6/11/26	No Data	Acquisition	Community newspaper	Link
	DiggyPOD (Port. Co Everbrook Holdings)	No Data	Tecumseh, MI	Long Overdue Books	No Data	Chicago, IL	6/10/26	No Data	Acquisition	Self-publishing services	Link
	Supremex	$205.4	Lasalle, QC	Goldrich Printpak	$30.0	Toronto, ON	6/5/26	$34.0	Acquisition	Folding cartons	Link
	Worth Higgins & Associates	$44.0	Richmond, VA	B&B Printing	No Data	Richmond, VA	6/4/26	No Data	Acquisition (Graphic Arts Advisors)	Commercial printing	Link

   

	2026 June - Bankruptcy Filings in the Printing, Packaging, Paper & Related Industries
	Filing Party	Date Case Filed	Pre-Petition Revenue (US$Mil)	Case #	Filing Party Address	Circuit	Region & City	Judge	Attorney for Debtor	Notes
	Chapter 11 Filings:
	Inks & Bindings, LLC	6/9/26	No Data	26-11800	Yorba Linda, CA	9th	Central CA Santa Ana	Mark D. Houle	Leonard Pena	Self-publishing services
	Chapter 7 Filings:
	No Chapter 7 Filings Found this Month	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---

 

	2026 June - Non-Bankruptcy Closures in the Printing, Packaging, Paper & Related Industries
	Closed Company / Facility	Date of Closure	Pre-Closure Revenue (US$Mil)	Closing Address	Related Party	Related Party Address	Date Closure Public	Notes	Press Links
	International Paper - Packaging facility	Jan-26	No Data	Elk Grove, CA	International Paper	Memphis, TN	6/26/26	Corrugated box production	Link
	International Paper - Packaging facility	Jan-26	No Data	Barrington, NJ	International Paper	Memphis, TN	6/26/26	Corrugated box production	Link
	International Paper - Packaging facility	Jan-26	No Data	Aurora, IL	International Paper	Memphis, TN	6/26/26	Corrugated box production	Link
	International Paper - Packaging facility	Jan-26	No Data	Richwood, KY	International Paper	Memphis, TN	6/26/26	Prepress operations	Link
	Smurfit Westrock - Packaging facility	8/14/26	No Data	Lebanon, TN	Smurfit Westrock	Dublin, Ireland	6/15/26	Folding cartons	Link