Acquisitions

The Prial family has sold the weekly Chief-leader in Manhattan, New York, to August Cooperative, LLC. The Chief-leader focuses on municipal government and civil servants, as well as issues affecting state and federal employees. It was founded in 1897 and has been owned by the Prial family since 1919.

Paxton Media Group has sold Southwest Iowa Publishing Company, LLC to Red Oak Publications, LLC, owned by J. Louis Mullen. Mullen is part of a second-generation newspaper family which includes two brothers who also own newspaper companies individually. J. Louis Mullen owns newspapers in seven states in the upper Midwest to the West Coast and sits on the board of the National Newspaper Association. The two Iowa newspapers published by Southwest Iowa Publishing Company — the Red Oak Express and the Glenwood Opinion-tribune — were two of the 46 newspaper operations PMG acquired from Landmark Community Newspapers LLC earlier this year.

The publishing group Axel Springer signed an agreement to acquire POLITICO, including the remaining 50 percent share of its current joint venture POLITICO Europe, as well as the tech news website Protocol from Robert Allbritton. POLITICO will complement and strengthen Axel Springer’s portfolio with an authoritative voice offering inside perspective and analysis of politics and policy in Washington D.C., across the U.S. and around the globe.

Nexstar Media Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Nexstar Media Group, Inc., has acquired The Hill for $130 million (plus working capital adjustments).

The acquisition marks a continuation of Nexstar’s content-first strategy, focused primarily on news, designed to further leverage and monetize its expansive digital reach.

Phillips Media Group has acquired five publications from Gannett Co., Inc.

The five publications include the Baxter Bulletin in Mountain Home, Arkansas, and four in Missouri: The Big Nickel in Joplin, the Rolla Daily News, the Kirksville Daily Express and the NEMO Trader in La Plata. These publications are all located within the general footprint of other Phillips Media Group properties.