The Boston Globe - 06.08.2019

Business

THEBOSTONGLOBETUESDAY, AUGUST6, 2019 | BOSTONGLOBE.COM/BUSINESS

C

Say hello to Gannett, everyone. And

wave goodbye to GateHouse.

The country’s two largest newspaper

publishers consummated their long-ru-

mored courtship on Monday, unveiling

plans to merge into one behemothby

the end of the year.

The implications couldbe significant

for New England: GateHouse owns 15

dailies in the six-state region — includ-

ing the mainpapers for Worcester,

Providence, Portsmouth, N.H., Fall Riv-

er, Quincy, and Framingham— and

dozens of weeklies. (Gannett’s only daily

in the region is in Burlington, Vt.)

GateHouse parent New Media In-

vestment Groupis acquiring a control-

ling interest in Gannett, for an estimat-

ed $1.4 billion worth of cash and stock.

The deal values Gannett’s stock at

$12.06 a share, a 12 percent premium

to the closing price on Friday. The

merged company will keep the Gannett

name,the morewell-known of the two

brands. The headquarters will be Gan-

nett’s homein McLean, Va., and not

GateHouse’s outpost near Rochester,

N.Y.

How big are we talking? This big:

The new company will control more

than 260 dailies, across47 states.

The stated hope is that by banding

together, both groupscan better with-

stand the forces ravaging the news in-

dustry — dwindling printad revenue,

tough online competition. Their sec-

ond-quarter earnings underscore the

challenges they face: New Media’s reve-

nue at continuing operations declined

6.9 percent in the past year, while Gan-

nett’s comparable “same store” revenue

fell 9.8 percent.

Gannett was essentially forced into

play by a hostile takeoverbid from Digi-

tal First Media (aka MediaNews

Group). Gannett executives appearedto

be suspicious of Digital First’s financ-

ing, and its reputation for extremecost-

cutting under hedge fund owner Alden

Global Capital.

New Media chairman Mike Reed

CHESTO, PageC

Bill Jacobsonwasn’t sure

he wanted me to write

about his yearlong voyage

around most of the planet,

which starts this week.

But he may need an ex-

perienced mariner or two

to join his crew for part of

the journey.

So I told him this column might serve as

an extended help wanted ad. What if I found

him a crew member who’d not only help

him cross the Pacific safely, but become a

lifelong friend?

“Let me ask my wife,” Jacobson said,

wisely. (She gave the go-ahead.)

Jacobson is a serial entrepreneur. A de-

cade ago, he founded Workbar, a network of

eight shared office spaces around the Boston

area. Before that, he had started a company

that enabled online shoppers to pick up

theirorders at a local retailer, and another

that helped publishing companies deliver

personalized e-mail newsletters. Bothwere

later acquired.

One of those acquisitions gave Jacobson

enough money to buy a long-distance sailing

yacht made by J/Boats of Newport, R.I. He

named the 46-foot vessel Vanish.net, and

upon getting married in 2002,set off to the

Caribbean with his spouse, and then to the

Mediterranean. The trip spanned 18

months.

After having children, Jacobson started

thinking about doing a similar voyage with

the family. “But work-wise,” he says, “it just

wasn’t practical for me or my wife, Renee

[Bushey],” a labor attorney at the Boston law

firm Feinberg, Campbell & Zack. His son

and daughter were fast approaching their

teen years. “It looked like it wasn’t going to

materialize,” he says.

INNOVATIONECONOMY,PageC

Newspaper deal to have ripple effect in Mass.

SAILING LIKE

ENTREPRENEURS

Jon Chesto

CHESTO MEANSBUSINESS

I’ve never visited 8chan, the

notorious Internet chat forum

where mass murderers an-

nounce theirimpending atroci-

ties. By Monday afternoon,I’d

missed my chance. The site was

shut down after last weekend’s

slaughter in El Paso, Texas,

when key Internet service pro-

viders walked away in disgust.

Good for them, but I have

no doubt 8chan will be back

online. Which actually might

benefit the coming crackdown

on right-wing terrorism — it’s

good to know where to find the

bad guys.

On Saturday, when an

8chan user purporting to be the

El Paso murderer published a

lengthy screed justifying the

crime, it was the third time this

year that a killer had published

such a manifesto on the site.

There had beenearlier hate

notes from the man who killed

51 people in Christchurch, New

Zealand, in March, and from

the man who murdered a wom-

an in April at a synagogue in

Poway, Calif.

For Cloudflare, an Internet

services company that helped

keep 8chan online, Saturday’s

atrocities weretoo much. The

company halted service to

8chan, crippling the site. 8chan

switched to another provider,

Voxility, but on Monday, it too

suspended service and left

8chan completely dark.

But 8chan has vowed to re-

sume operations as soon as it

can find a new service provider.

You can bet it will; after all,

Gab is back in business.

You might rememberGab.

Founded by Donald Trump

supporter Andrew Torba as an

alternative to Twitter, it’s a fa-

vorite online hangout for rac-

ists and anti-Semites. Last year,

a Gab user posted a hateful

message right before heading

to a Pittsburgh synagogue and

shooting 11 people to death. In

the aftermath, majorInternet

companiessuch as PayPal, Go-

Daddy, and Medium broke

their ties to the forum. The site

disappeared for a week or two,

but soon found another online

host. It now claimsmore than a

million registered users.

As far as Torba’s concerned,

those userscan say pretty much

whatever they want.

“ ‘Hate speech’ is 100%pro-

tected by the First Amendment

as ruledunanimously by the

SupremeCourt of the United

States,” Torba wrote in an e-

mail.

“The notion of banning it is

something that I believe to be

very hateful, bigoted, and ab-

surd. I believe that more speech

is always the answer, not less.”

As an US company, Gab is

protected not only by the First

Amendment, but by Section

TECHLAB,PageC

Is heading off online

hate even possible?

NIC ANTAYA FOR THEBOSTON GLOBE

Workers at the Battery Wharf Hotel Monday approveda

strike authorization for UNITEHERELocal 26, whichis

in negotiationswiththe hotel. Issues includewages,

protectionsagainst sexual harassment, and job security.

(Above)Jessica Pesantes of Revere at a pollingstation.

HOTEL STRIKEAUTHORIZED

JOHN MINCHILLO/ASSOCIATEDPRESS

OnSunday, shoeswerepiledin thestreet in theaftermath

of themassshootingin Dayton,Ohio.

HiawathaBray

TECHLAB

‘I wantedto sail in the Pacific Ocean.’

BILL JACOBSON,whoseinterestsincludeclimatechange

PHOTOS BY BILLJACOBSON

BenJacobsonandhismother, ReneeBushey, showedflagsof thevariouscountriesthefamilyplansto visit.

In Denmark,wherethey boughttheirboat, theVerbena,Bill

JacobsonandReneeBushey posedwiththeirchildrenondeck.

Scott Kirsner

INNOVATION ECONOMY

Adventure,maybe innovation, await Workbar founder’s family at sea