PR Newswire acquires U.S. Newswire.

Commercial news distributor PR Newswire (New York) has acquired U.S. Newswire (Washington, D.C.) from Medialinks Worldwide Inc. (New York), a provider of news and marketing media services for television, radio, print and the Internet, for $19 million and an earn-out of up to $4 million.

U.S. Newswire was established in 1986 and was acquired by Medialinks in 1999. The company was the first news distribution vehicle focused on servicing the needs of public information officers at governmental agencies, public interest groups, not-for-progit organizations, civic groups, unions, colleges and universities, cultural organizations, research groups, political organizations and foreign embassies. The company distributes news, speeches, pres conference advisories and other content for such organizations as the ACLU, FDA, the AFL-CIO, National Association of Realtors and the Mayo Clinic, among thousands of other entities.

Established in 1954, PR Newswire provides electronic distribution, measurement and broadcast services for tens of thousands of government, association, labor, non-profit and corporate customers worldwide. PR Newswire CEO Charles Gregson said U.S. Newswire will "augment our existing offering in the important policy news market. We continue to see attractive opportunities for the further development of PR Newswire both through more acquisitions and continued organic development in the U.S. and worldwide."