Post Register to be sold to Minneapolis-based company

The Post Co. of Idaho Falls announced Wednesday that it is being bought by Adams Publishing Group, a media chain based in St. Louis Park, Minn., and owned by a billionaire investor with interests in billboards, wine, banks and recreational vehicles.

The sale will include the Post Register as well as three weekly newspapers: the Shelley Pioneer, Jefferson Star and Challis Messenger. It is expected to be finalized Nov. 1. A sale price was not disclosed.

Adams Publishing owns dozens of newspapers, shoppers and magazines in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Maryland and Ohio. The acquisition of the Post Register represents a continuation of an expansion into the West, as the company recently bought four newspapers in Wyoming, in Cheyenne, Laramie, Rawlins and Rock Springs. The Adams family also owns radio stations, an outdoor advertising company and Camping World/Good Sam, which opened a location in Idaho Falls earlier this year.

For more information about the company's chairman, Stephen Adams, follow this link from the Stanford GSB Experience of Feb. 1, 2006: Stephen Adams Honored with 2006 Arbuckle Award.

The sale marks the end of 90-plus years of ownership by the Brady family. Company President Jerry Brady, 79, told employees this summer he felt he had nothing more to add to the company. Although the decision was difficult, he was convinced selling the company was the right thing to do, he said.

Brady and his brother, Jack, own about two-thirds of the company. The remaining is owned by employees (and ex-employees, including me) through an Employee Stock Ownership Plan.

“We think we’ve found the best deal out there,” Brady wrote in a July letter to employees. “It would provide enough money to retire all debts, allowing us to go forward debt-free and to make a distribution to (employee) owners.”

“We’re very excited to have the Post Register Company’s group of newspapers and digital products join our company going forward,” Stephen Adams said in a statement. “The Brady family has a long history of providing strong journalism in the state of Idaho. It’s our goal to continue their tradition of locally focused, community-driven editorial and reporting.”