O’Rourke Media Group Acquires Las Vegas (NM) Optic from Paxton Media GroupBack to News

Las Vegas, NM – June 23, 2021 – Paxton Media Group (PMG) announced today that it has sold the Las Vegas (NM) Optic to O’Rourke Media Group. The Las Vegas Optic is 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 the Optic, the staff was also told that PMG intended to focus on the Landmark newspapers closer to the company’s current geographic footprint in the Southeast, and that they were working to find a new owner for the Optic 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.

“I’m excited to plant a flag in the state of New Mexico with the acquisition of the Optic,” O’Rourke Media Group CEO Jim O’Rourke said. “I’m really looking forward to working with and investing in this talented, hardworking group of employees as we look to grow digital audience and revenue while continuing to publish an amazing print publication."  

The family-owned and operated O’Rourke Media Group launched in 2018 and has acquired community publications in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Vermont, and Arizona.

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