Morris Publishing Group

Morris Communications

Type	Private
Industry	Media
Founded	1945
Founder	William S. Morris Jr.
Headquarters	Augusta, Georgia
Key people	William S. Morris III, Chairman William S. Morris IV, CEO
Products	Newspaper/Magazine
Number of employees	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.

William S. Morris Jr. began working in the media industry in 1929 when he got a job as a bookkeeper at the Augusta Chronicle. He and his wife bought stock in the paper in 1945 and founded Southeastern Newspapers, Inc. They bought the remaining shares of the Chronicle in 1955 and expanded with the purchase of the Augusta Herald. Their son William S. (Billy) Morris III joined the company in 1956. Additional newspapers in Georgia were added in the coming years. Billy was appointed President of the company in 1966, and the name was changed to Morris Communications Corp. in 1970.

The company continued to expand, adding interests radio and television as well as newspapers in Alaska, Florida, and Texas. The company purchased Florida Publishing Co., owners of The Florida Times-Union and The St. Augustine Record, on January 1, 1983. The company expanded into outdoor advertising in 1985 with the purchase of Naegele Outdoor Advertising Inc., which they renamed Fairway Outdoor Advertising. In 1995, they expanded into Kansas by acquiring Stauffer Communications, Inc., which had a portfolio of newspapers and TV and radio stations. They added travel guides starting with the acquisition of Best Read Guide Franchise Corp. in 1997, and added Guest Informant in 2003 and Where in 2004. Morris Visitor Publications has since grown to become the company's second-largest division. Another subsidiary, Morris Publications Ltd. UK, was created in 1998, when Cadogan Guides of London was purchased. They also acquired London This Week, renaming it the London Planner.