North Shore Weeklies Inc., based in Ipswich, Massachusetts, USA, was a newspaper publisher on Massachusetts' North Shore and one of the original subsidiaries of Community Newspaper Company , now the largest publisher of weeklies in Massachusetts. William S. Wasserman Jr. founded the company in 1958, running it independently until selling in 1986 to a group underwritten by Fidelity Investments, which founded CNC. North Shore Weeklies was dissolved in 1996; most of its newspapers are still part of CNC, now a division of GateHouse Media. Under Wasserman, who began the company with his purchase... of the Amesbury News in 1958, the company gradually expanded until it included nine weekly newspapers down the seacoast toward Boston. In the 12 months ending August 31, 1986, the company made US$7.6 million in revenues and turned a profit. After selling the papers, Wasserman gave US$700,000 out of the proceeds in bonuses to his staff, distributed based on how long they had worked for the company. Some employees were given as much as US$20,000. But Wasserman could be a severe businessman, too.
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