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Isle of Wight County Press shareholders sell out to mainland co Newsquest

The shareholders of the Isle of Wight County Press group met on the mainland yesterday to vote on whether to sell their shares to mammoth news publisher, Newsquest.

The buyout by the publisher – which has over 200 titles across the UK – was agreed at an Extraordinary General Meeting of the shareholders in Chandlers Ford.

The sale comes despite calls for a delay from Isle of Wight Conservative MP, Bob Seely , a semi-retired businessman who wanted to submit a community bid and 99% of the journalists working on the paper.

Response from staff
Editor of the County Press, Alan Marriott, said,

“I look forward to working with the management of Newsquest.”

OnTheWight has written to the father of County Press NUJ chapel for a comment about the sale, but at time of publishing had not heard back. We’ll update when we do.

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