Adams Publishing Group LLC purchased the assets of four Wyoming newspapers in the McCraken Newspaper Group, including the Wyoming Tribune Eagle in Cheyenne, the Laramie Boomerang, the Rawlins Daily Times and the Rock Springs Rocket-Miner. The newspapers and websites.
That was followed by the announcement of the purchase of the Post Co., Idaho Falls.
The sale included the Post Register, as well as weekly newspapers the Shelley Pioneer, Challis Messenger and Jefferson Star. Post Co. Terms were not disclosed.
Adams Publishing Group LLC, a family-owned media company headquartered in suburban Minneapolis-St. Paul has properties in Delaware, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Maryland and Ohio.
The Delaware and Maryland holdings are now known as APG Chesapeake and now include papers in southern Maryland acquired from the Washington Post Co.
The Adams family also owns radio stations in scattered parts of the nation, including the Delmarva Peninsula, specialty magazines, outdoor advertising companies and Camping World/Good Sam, a national distributor of recreational vehicles and camping-related products and services.
Other holdings of family patriarch Stephen Adams reportedly include wineries in France and California.
The company recently moved its radio broadcast operations for Delmarva from Georgetown, DE to Salisbury, MD.
Adams has been on a buying spree since 2014, acquiring papers in Maryland, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Ohio from American Consolidated Media (ACM).
That was followed with additional purchases of newspapers and websites in Maryland, Wisconsin. Minnesota and Ohio. The company now has upwards of five dozen newspapers, as well as companion websites.
Adams has typically retained staffs of the acquired papers that had earlier undergone downsizings. Without the debt loads of the past and low personnel costs, the properties can be modestly profitable.
In the case of Chesapeake, previous ownership had made drastic cuts at its Upper Shore papers. That included closing a printing plant in Elkton, MD. and cutting jobs in Elkton and Newark to a handful from as many as 100 during the company’s peak.
The current stability has been encouraging news in an industry where new owners often order a new round of layoffs.
