Nicholas Holdings acquires Huskers Illustrated from Paxton Media Group

Jul 26, 2021

OMAHA, Nebraska – Paxton Media Group (PMG) announced July 1, 2021, that it has sold Huskers Illustrated to Nicholas Holdings. Nicholas Holdings is owned by longtime newspaper veteran Terry Kroeger, who also owns Smith Kroeger, an Omaha-based marketing and communications company. Huskers Illustrated, which focuses on University of Nebraska sports, was one of the 46 newspaper operations PMG recently acquired from Landmark Community Newspapers LLC.

When PMG announced its purchase of Landmark Community Newspapers to the staff of Huskers Illustrated it said that they intended to focus on the Landmark newspapers closer to the company’s current geographic footprint, and that they were working to find a new owner for Huskers Illustrated as soon as possible.

Dirks, Van Essen & April, a media merger and acquisition firm based in Santa Fe, New Mexico, represented Paxton Media Group. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

“We’re delighted to have the opportunity to bring Huskers Illustrated to local ownership,” Kroeger said. “As a UNL graduate, Husker athletics are personal to me and we’re looking forward to providing quality content for fellow Husker fans.”

Kroeger added that Darren Ivy will remain with the magazine and continue to serve as general manager for Huskers Illustrated. 

Paxton Media Group, based in Paducah, Kentucky, has 118 publications in 13 states. The Landmark deal included papers in Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Tennessee, Indiana and Iowa.