Gannett to name broadcast, digital unit Tegna amid spinoff

Roger Yu | USA TODAY

Gannett, the media company that is spinning off its publishing business, said Tuesday it'll run its broadcasting and digital units under the new corporate name Tegna.

Tegna, which includes letters from the name Gannett, will trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol TGNA when it completes spinning off the publishing unit by midyear.

"Tegna is a nod to the more than 100-year-old history of Gannett," Gracia Martore, Gannett's CEO, said in a statement.

Tegna will operate 46 stations Gannett currently owns or provides services to, as well as its digital unit. Cars.com and CareerBuilder.com generate most of the digital unit's revenue.

The publishing unit, which owns USA TODAY and 81 other daily newspapers, will adopt the Gannett name. The new Gannett will be headed by Robert Dickey, currently Gannett's president of U.S. Community Publishing. It'll continue to trade on the NYSE under the ticker symbol GCI.

In August, 2014, Gannett announced its plan to spin off the publishing business, an effort to focus on its broadcasting and digital units that have been growing and shield them from the fallout in print advertising's decline.

Prior to unveiling the new name, Gannett, based in McLean, Va., said Tuesday its first-quarter earnings — after adjusting for special items, such as restructuring and impairment charges and other one-time gains and expenses — rose 4% to $112.8 million due to hefty gains in its digital unit. Without the adjustment, its net income rose 91% year-over-year to $112.9 million.

The company's revenue rose 4.9% to $1.47 billion. But Gannett's publishing business reported an 8.8% decline in revenue to $768.2 million due to weak demand from advertisers.

Advertising revenues fell 11.3% to $444.4 million. Circulation revenues declined 3.1% to $273.2 million "due primarily to declines at USA TODAY" and its U.K.-based print operation, Newsquest, the company said. Local U.S. newspapers' circulation revenues were "relatively flat" compared to a year ago as their pay-to-read subscription plans showed "continued strength," it said.

The broadcasting segment's revenue jumped 3.8% to $396.8 million. Super Bowl-related advertising sales and higher retransmission fees, which are paid by pay-TV providers to carry the company's stations, largely drove the unit's growth.

The digital segment's revenue totaled $332.7 million, up 85% from a year ago. The revenue spike largely came from an acquisition and "very strong results" at Cars.com, the company said. In October, Gannett completed buying 73% of Cars.com that it didn't own at the time. Cars.com's revenue grew 27.8% while CareerBuilder.com reported a 4.3% gain.