set plans for succession within the company, forced Wood to sell his operations—and to the most unlikely of buyers. On July 23, 2004, Wood announced he would sell the News-Chronicle and his other weeklies to Gannett for an undisclosed price. Wood kept ownership of his printing business, as well as an automobile sales publication. Many of the News-Chronicle's employees and readers were stunned at the announcement, but Gannett had said they would maintain the status quo for the short term. Although the News-Chronicle continued to publish as a separate paper, and received printing and technological upgrades as it was switched to Gannett facilities and presses, its circulation and advertising functions were gradually merged with that of the Press-Gazette. The News-Chronicle's ownership by Gannett could not reverse the paper's failing health, as advertisers spent their advertising money with the larger Gannett newspaper, along with Gannett's acquisition of other publications down the lakeshore and around the Fox River Valley and Lake Winnebago, effectively consolidating a wide-ranging market with seven publications into one monopoly of those seven newspapers controlled by Gannett. On May 26, 2005, Gannett announced that the paper would cease operations with the June 3, 2005 edition. The News-Chronicle had been the longest-running "strike paper" in newspaper publishing history. Most of its remaining employees were offered jobs at other Gannett publications in the area. References "It's -30- for the N-C," Green Bay News-Chronicle, June 3, 2005 (reposted at The Green Bay News-Chronicle Online - local news) "A Look Back: 32 years of N-C ups and downs" Green Bay News-Chronicle, June 3, 2005 (reposted at scribd.com) External links 2004 press release regarding Gannett's purchase of the News-Chronicle and its sister publications "Green Bay to lose smaller daily paper", from Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, May 27, 2005. "Cheesed Off: Locals Respond to Death of Green Bay Daily", from Editor & Publisher, May 28, 2005 Media Watch: Requiem for a Bantamweight, from Tucson Weekly'', June 9, 2005. July 2005 Valley Scene interview with former News-Chronicle columnist Curt Andersen Defunct newspapers published in Wisconsin Newspapers established in 1972 Publications disestablished in 2005 Mass media in Green Bay, Wisconsin 1972 establishments in Wisconsin 2005 disestablishments in Wisconsin