Morris Communications
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| Private | |
| Industry | Media |
| Founded | 1945 |
| Founder | William S. Morris Jr. |
| Headquarters | Augusta, Georgia |
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Key people
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William S. Morris III, Chairman William S. Morris IV, CEO |
| Products | Newspaper/Magazine |
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Number of employees
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6,000 |
| Website | www.morris.com/ |
Morris Communications, headquartered in Augusta, Georgia, is a privately held media company with diversified holdings that include newspaper and magazine publishing, outdoor advertising, radio broadcasting, book publishing and distribution, visitor publications and online services. Newspapers are the foundation and core business of the company owned by the Morris family since 1945. Today, the Georgia-based enterprise reaches across the nation, has holdings in Europe and employs 6,000 people.
Morris also is the publisher of The Milepost, a northwestern American travel guide.
Morris Communications is separate from Morris Multimedia, which was founded by Charles H. Morris, a member of the same family that founded Morris Communications.
Morris Communications was started in 1945, by the Morris family, under the name of Southeastern Newspapers, Inc., which later grew to become Morris Communications Corp. in 1970. However, the company traces its beginnings to a corporate structure dating from the 1800s. Even though its main thrust is newspaper publishing, the company also publishes magazines and specialized publications, books and distribution, radio broadcasting, visitor publications, event marketing, commercial printing and online services.
The Morris family was involved with the Augusta Chronicle, located in the U.S. state of Georgia, in 1929. 26-year-old William S. Morris Jr., father of today's chairman and CEO, became a bookkeeper at the daily newspaper. Today, Morris Communications maintains corporate headquarters only a few blocks from the site of its modest beginnings.
In 1945, Morris and a friend purchased the newspaper. Ten years later, Morris, and his wife Florence, bought the remainder of the outstanding stock, along with the afternoon Augusta Herald. Billy Morris, who delivered newspapers from horseback in his hometown as a boy, joined the company in 1956, a few days before his 22nd birthday, as assistant to the president. He became publisher of the two Augusta newspapers and president of the corporation 10 years later.
With the two Augusta newspapers as its base, the company started its expansion with the purchase of a radio station and a television station in Augusta and two other daily newspapers in Savannah and Athens, Georgia. After purchasing those two, the company expanded to Alaska, followed by Texas, and then Florida. The company acquired its largest-circulation paper, The Florida Times-Union and also another daily, The St. Augustine Record, with the purchase of Florida Publishing Co., located in Jacksonville on January 1, 1983.
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Wikipedia