Like the rest of the newspaper operators in the US, Gannett Co., Inc. (NYSE: GCI) has had a steep drop in its stock price. Basically, to stabilize things, the company needs to find new growth opportunities.

And, of course, this is likely to come from the Net. So this week, Gannett announced a strategic investment in Cozi, which is a scheduler for families (the amount was not disclosed).

In the deal, Gannet will leverage Cozi's service across its large distribution platform, which includes 85 daily newspapers, 23 television stations and hundreds of websites.

Cozi is a neat service. For example, you can track shopping and to-do lists, family chores and so on. There is also calendar and photo sharing. Launched in late 2006, Cozi now has more than 600,000 registered users.

All in all, this looks like a smart deal for Gannett. Basically, the company can enhance its relationship with its customers. At the same time, Cozi could be a vehicle for local and classified ads, which are under pressure. Moreover, there is likely to be a boost in membership as Gannett has coverage of about 20 million households.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook and The Edgar Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements. He also operates MergerBook.com.

Gannett cozies up to the Net originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 20 Jun 2008 14:43:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.