The history of the News Publishing Company dates back to Nov. 1, 1928. That's when the late Burgett H. Mooney Sr., the late T.B. Goodwin, both of Gadsden, and the late William S. Mudd of Birmingham formed the company and purchased the Rome News-Tribune. Today, all of the News Publishing Company's stock is held by the Mooney family. Burgett H. Mooney III, became general manager of the Rome News-Tribune and president of the Rome News-Tribune in 1986 when after 40 years with the paper Burgett H. Mooney Jr. retired. The daily Rome News-Tribune is now one of 10 publications owned by the News Publishing Company. The company has some 225 employees, not counting the carriers, who are independent contractors. Acquisitions began with The Rockmart Journal, a weekly, in 1980. The company's next acquisition was the twice-weekly Calhoun Times in 1986. In May 1988, News Publishing Company bought the weekly Cherokee County (Ala.) Herald and The Cedartown Standard, which is published twice-weekly. In September of 1988, the company added the twice-weekly Walker County Messenger. In 1989, the News Publishing Company also acquired the Cherokee County (Ala.) Sun, which it merged with the Cherokee County Herald. In November of 1990, News Publishing Company purchased the Catoosa County News. The company also has several weekly free-distribution publications.