One of the last big family-owned newspaper publishers in the UK, CN Group, is being sold to US-owned regional publisher Newsquest.
The group has been helmed by four generations of the Burgess family and boasts a newspaper history going back 200 years to the Carlisle Patriot. John Burgess, great grandfather of current CN Group chairman Robin Bugrgess, became the newspaper’s editor in 1868.
Newsquest’s buyout of the Cumbria-based group, which publishes seven newspaper titles – including daily the Carlisle News & Star – and four magazine titles, is expected to be completed after a shareholder meeting on 9 March.
The board said it had taken the decision to end CN Group’s independence because it believes its long-term future, its staff and pensioners are “better protected as part of a larger, scaled operation”.
Miller Hogg, CN Group’s chief executive, said: “It is vitally important for a local media company like CN to be part of a larger and committed regional media group like Newsquest.