was completed on Sept. 3, 2014, as several employees, including widely respected columnist Bob Kerr, were told they would not be transferred to the new company. Bernie Szachara, senior vice president for publishing and group publisher at Local Media Group, a division of GateHouse Media, assumed the title of interim publisher, succeeding Howard G. Sutton. On Feb. 27, 2015, Janet Hasson was named president and publisher of the Journal. (The GateHouse Media news release announcing the appointment incorrectly reported that Hasson was the paper's first female publisher. That distinction belongs to Mary Caroline Knowles, who was publisher from 1874 until 1879.) In 2019, Journal parent company GateHouse Media purchased Gannett, the publisher of USA Today. This purchase established GateHouse as the largest newspaper company in the United States "by far," and also provided the Providence Journal with access to publish stories from the USA Today network of newspapers. Falling circulation In October 2015, average daily paid circulation was 89,452 on Sundays and 70,600 on weekdays. By June 2017, circulation was down to about 72,000 on Sundays and 56,000 on weekdays. In 2021 those figures dropped to 38,500 on Sundays and 29,957 weekdays; by contrast, both figures in 1990 were over 200,000. In December 2022, as part of a 6 percent targeted reduction in the Gannett news division, executive editor David Ng was laid-off. Headquarters The paper in its early days changed headquarters frequently as the paper grew. The paper's original office was in the old Coffee House, at the corner of Market Square and Canal street. In 1823 it moved to the Union building, on the west side of the bridge, and in the following year to the Granite building, Market Square. In May, 1833, the office moved again to the Whipple building on College Street. From 1844 to 1871, the paper was housed at the Washington buildings. In July, 1871 the paper moved to the Barton block on Weybosset Street. In May, 1889, the paper purchased the Fletcher building at the corner of Westminster, Eddy and Fulton Streets. In 1905 the paper announced its move from Eddy Street to a brand new building next door at the corner of Eddy and Westminster St. The old building was demolished, and the new building extended over the site of the old. The ornate new building was designed in the Beaux-Arts style by Robert Swain Peabody of the noted Boston firm of