New company formed by Charles H. Morris Jr. buys papers in Gainesville, Cumming and Dawsonville

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Charles H. Morris Sr., CEO and president of Morris Multimedia Inc., announced April 16 the sale of The Times (Gainesville, Ga.) and The Poultry Times to Metro Market Media, a newly formed company owned by his son, Charles H. Morris, Jr.

In a separate transaction, Morris Sr. also sold from an affiliated company the Forsyth County News (Cumming, Ga.) and Dawson County News (Dawsonville, Ga.)  to Morris Jr. and MMM.

Morris Jr. has been regional manager of the three newspaper properties for the past 12 years. Metro Market Media is headquartered in Gainesville, Ga. The transaction extends to the third generation a legacy of newspaper and media company ownership by the Morris family.

"With the purchase of the media companies in these three exceptional markets, we plan to position ourselves for long-term success in the communities we serve. Having them under a single ownership will allow us to be more efficient and customer oriented in everything we do, while continuing to provide quality journalism," Morris Jr. said.

"This is a family transaction that will allow us to have a collaborative relationship with MMI, while at the same time establishing ourselves as an independent company with these three properties, all of which have great potential," Morris Jr. said.

The Times and its affiliated products were acquired from Gannett in 2004 by Morris Multimedia.  The Forsyth and Dawson companies were owned by the New York Times prior to being purchased by an affiliate of MMI in 1994.

In addition to his ownership of the new company, Morris Jr. will continue to serve in a leadership capacity with Morris Multimedia and will oversee the company's Tennessee, California and Caribbean operations.

Charles H. Morris Sr. said, "I'm very proud of my son for what he has accomplished in our company. He is a respected newspaper publisher who has served as president of Southern Newspaper Publishers Association, which represents daily newspapers in 14 southern states."

MMI, founded in 1970 and headquartered in Savannah, is one of the largest privately owned companies in the United States. MMI owns and operates 16 television stations in six southeastern U.S. markets and numerous daily and weekly newspapers, shoppers and niche publications in eight states and the Caribbean.

The change of ownership is effective immediately.

Morris, Gainesville, Cumming, Dawsonville, Metro Market Media
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