ABC and CAC to Merge

Certified Audit of Circulations will be a subsidiary of ABC, newspaper member data will be combined.

By Bill Mickey
Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Certified Audit of Circulations and ABC are planning to merge. Pending approval of the memberships of the two audit bureaus, CAC will become a subsidiary of ABC by this fall.

No cash is trading hands and the merger will result in a new, expanded database of audited info for the newspaper market. Combined, the database will provide data on 2,000 daily and weekly newspapers. CAC members will also benefit from from ABC's services.

Mike Lavery, ABC's president and managing director, will become CAC's CEO and CAC's current CEO, Mark Stoecklin, will become COO.

While the data from the two organizations will be combined, CAC will continue to operate as its own brand. The bureau will keep its board of directors, bylaws, audit statements and staff. "This initiative offers newspapers more services and more visibility in a new database," says Mike Gugliotto, president and CEO of Pioneer Newspapers Inc. and a CAC director, in a statement. "And with a separate board and staff, CAC member interests will continue to be top of mind."

Both boards of directors have already unanimously approved the partnership. A special meeting will be held November 2 at CAC's Wayne, New Jersey headquarters for the membership vote.

According to the two organizations, the partnership idea was floated by the buyer community, which was looking for a more centralized data repository.