per Austin Chronicle: Last Austin, TX Original SWSX creator sells remaining shares to California SXSW major owner and now event operator.
Chronicle Owner Nick Barbaro to Sell Stake in South by Southwest to Penske • The Austin Chronicle. Click here to ARTICLE.
Chronicle Owner Nick Barbaro to Sell Stake in South by Southwest to Penske, California Company.
After 39 years, the festival’s co-founder looks back on the culture phenomenon he created and his decision to leave
by Richard WhittakerAugust 28, 2026
SXSW co-founder Nick Barbaro speaking at the 38th annual Austin Music Awards in 2020. Barbaro also co-founded The Austin Chronicle and is the paper’s owner and president.Credit: David Brendan HallIt’s the end of an era today as Nick Barbaro, co-founder and co-owner of South by Southwest, has announced that he is selling his stake in the conference and festival to Penske Media Corporation. Barbaro, who helped turn the festival into an international institution and a core aspect of Austin’s identity, is also the co-founder of The Austin Chronicle, of which he remains president and sole owner.
Founded in 1987, SXSW was the brainchild of Barbaro, Chronicle co-founder Louis Black, then-Chronicle staffer Roland Swenson, and Austin-based booking agent Louis Meyers. The current deal involves Barbaro in his role as a shareholder of SXSW Holdings LLC, whose 30 stakeholders represent original and early investors in SXSW LLC. Barbaro and the other 29 shareholders will sell their portion of the company to Penske and wind up the holding firm. Barbaro noted that there are still a few details to hammer out, but on completion of the deal Penske will become full owner of SXSW.
The L.A.-based media leviathan became a partner in the company in 2021 after SXSW faced possible bankruptcy when it was forced to cancel its March 2020 in-person event due to the COVID pandemic. In an emailed statement, Barbaro said, “If we hadn’t taken on an outside partner then, SXSW wouldn’t be with us today. We’ll always be grateful to PMC for giving us that lifeline and keeping the event alive.”
Regarding the timing of the sale, Barbaro explained in a phone conversation that the original 2021 deal included a clause that would allow SXSW Holdings to sell all remaining stock to PMC. However, this came with a five-year countdown, and Barbaro noted that “over the last year or so, as we were aware that the end of the option was coming.” He added, “Basically [PMC] had operating control and it seemed logical to just let them do what they wanted to do, and turn over the new leaf.”
That new leaf also means a major personal change for Barbaro, who will be 75 in a few months. “It’s odd,” he said, “but ever since the pandemic there’s been this period of acclimation. Things change.”
Barbaro also noted that this will likely mark the end of his active involvement with SXSW. While he is synonymous with the festival, he said it’s been “over a decade” since he had “a designated role” and that, beyond acting as a cheerleader, “I don’t think there’s much I can do for them.”
Looking back on his time at SXSW, Barbaro recalled two events that still stick with him, and they both involved Bruce Springsteen. The first was his 2012 keynote speech which Barbaro, ever in motion during the fest back then, didn’t get to see in person, “but I got to watch and listen to the whole thing later and that is worth doing.” Springsteen began the hourlong presentation with a rendition of the Animals’ “We Gotta Get Out of This Place,” Barbaro recalled, “and he didn’t know that Eric Burdon of the Animals was in the audience, so that was really fun.”
The second was that same year, when the Boss made an unexpected appearance at the Austin Music Awards when he took to the stage as part of the backing band, alongside Joe Ely, for headliner Alejandro Escovedo. “Seeing the three of them just having fun up on stage, and him just having fun and not having what I presume is a lot of the pressure of everything he has to do, that was pretty special.”
On a more personal note, what Barbaro looks back on with the greatest fondness about the conference and festival is “probably the staff. The people with whom I’ve worked, from partners, Roland and the two Louii, on down. … I credit mostly Roland with this. He collected an amazing group of people who put on a great event, and still do, and a lot of them are still there and still doing that, and that’s cool to see.”
The history of modern Austin and SXSW have gone hand-in-hand for the last 39 years. The festival was originally launched in 1987 as a four-day music conference with attached showcases intended to highlight local bands for national bookers and bring customers to Austin bars during the Spring Break lull. Barbaro explained that he, Black, Meyers, and Swenson started “with the idea of bringing the world to Austin for a close-up view of our regional music scene and providing a springboard for up-and-coming bands and artists.”
It was an immediate and massive success: The quartet had expected maybe 150 attendees and instead got around 700. Over the years, the event expanded to add film, TV, and technology aspects, as well as spin-off education and environmental conferences, and offshoots in London, Las Vegas, and Sydney. As importantly, it has launched countless careers and put the spotlight on arts and artists in front of new and eager audiences, as well as bringing billions of dollars into the local Austin economy.
However, the last few years have seen the company change radically. Black retired from the Chronicle in 2017, sold his SXSW shares, and moved out of Austin, and Swenson (who is one of the shareholders in SXSW Holdings) stepped down as president of SXSW in 2022. In the middle of this came that initial sale to Penske, finally taking majority control of the company out of private hands.
Even though the Chronicle and SXSW have operated as separate entities, their interconnectedness has remained constant through years, with the paper remaining a media sponsor for the event. There’s even been a physical connection, with the first purpose-built SXSW offices and the Chronicle home base on opposite sides of a volleyball court where staff would meet for friendly Friday afternoon bouts. (Barbaro – who officially stepped down as Chronicle publisher in 2025 after 43 years in the role – rarely missed a match.)
SXSW eventually relocated Downtown, first to rented space on Bowie Street and then to its current purpose-built office block on Lavaca. Barbaro remained a key connective figure and hands-on in both organizations, both in a management role and in ways that may surprise even regular attendees. Every time you ever picked up a copy of the Chronicle or the SXSW schedules and saw those hour-by-hour grids, Barbaro had helped construct and design them. “If I do have any ongoing whatever at South By,” he said, “that’ll probably be where it will be.”
And while he will no longer have a formal role in SXSW, it remains a defining part of his life story that he still embraces. He said, “It’s fun to go to places almost anywhere in the world, at least the part of the world I’m likely to go to, and have people know about SXSW, and often know about Austin because of SXSW. I’m still gonna claim that legacy. I’m happy to tell people, ‘I was a cofounder of SXSW.’”
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The Chronicle's first Culture Desk editor, Richard has reported on Austin's growing film production and appreciation scene for over a decade. A graduate of the universities of York, Stirling, and UT-Austin, a Rotten Tomatoes certified critic, and eight-time Best of Austin winner, he's currently at work on two books and a play. More by Richard Whittaker
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