Just two months after the death of the company’s co-president, Missouri-based Rust Communications has sold nine of its 40-plus newspapers to fast-growing CherryRoad Media.
Rex Dearmont Rust (pictured) died in early January, aged 52, after a year-long battle with cancer.
CherryRoad Media says it has completed the purchase of nine newspapers in Arkansas and Missouri. Randy Cope of Cribb, Cope & Potts, represented Rust Communications in the transaction, terms of which were not disclosed.
CherryRoad entered the newspaper industry in late 2020 with the purchase of the weekly Cook County (Minnesota) News-Herald, and has since acquired 52 other titles, including four in Arkansas and four in Missouri.
Mastheads acquired include the Marshall Democrat-News, Monett Times, Cassville Democrat, and South Missourian News in Missouri, and the Carroll County News, Lovely County Citizen, The News, Villager Journal and Clay County Times-Democrat in Arkansas
Rust and his brother Jon led the business founded by their father, Gary Rust. Prior to the CherryRoad sale, it owned more than 40 newspapers in eight states, numerous magazines and websites, and had minority ownership of 17 radio stations.