TOKYO — In order to assist stabilize the firm's finances with a $50 million investment and position Lee Enterprises for the future, the company reached a deal Tuesday with billionaire investor David Hoffmann, who offered to acquire the country's third-largest newspaper chain this year.
Hoffmann, whose family investment company already controls over 40 other publications, will take over as chairman of Lee as he works to become the biggest newspaper publisher in the nation. According to previous interviews, he thinks newspapers can continue to be a vital source of information about local communities and become a lucrative digital subscription company.
CEO Kevin Mowbray will retire after 39 years with the Davenport, Iowa-based company, which owns the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Buffalo News, Omaha World-Herald, and scores of other magazines in 25 states, when Hoffmann takes over, according to Lee.
Hoffmann, who declined to speak further on the deal, said, "Now that there is a clear governance framework and better financial stability, the focus can be on disciplined execution and long-term value creation."
He started his own executive search company, DHR Global, which helped him make his first fortune. He then established his investment fund. It currently employs 22,000 people and has over 125 businesses. Next year, it plans to take over as the Pittsburgh Penguins' main owner.
After he takes over, the test will be whether Hoffmann and Lee reinvest in newsrooms to improve coverage of high school athletics and other local institutions, as he has discussed, according to Tim Franklin, a professor and chair of local journalism at Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism.
Like many news organizations, Lee has reduced its workforce and sold off a portion of the real estate owned by its publications in recent years due to a drop in online traffic and advertising. Additionally, a lot of Lee periodicals ceased printing on Mondays.
In addition, the business suffered from $455.5 million in debt that was acquired when it refinanced its previous debt and purchased Warren Buffett's newspapers from Berkshire Hathaway. According to Lee, it will be able to save roughly $18 million annually and lower the interest rate on that debt from 9% to 5% thanks to the additional investment from Hoffmann and other investors.
Lee was facing away from the wall. Additionally, I believe it was trying to find a way to stabilize the company," Franklin stated.
Although Buffett and Greg Abel, the new CEO of Berkshire, did not answer questions on Tuesday, Buffett came to the conclusion that the industry was "toast" and doomed to a perpetual decline prior to selling off Berkshire's newspapers.
In contrast to three years ago, when Lee repelled a takeover attempt by the Alden Global Capital investment fund, the publisher's board has adopted Hoffmann's strategy.
Hoffmann consented to purchase $35 million worth of new Lee stock at a price of $3.25 per share in addition to the 9.8% of the company's stock that he already owned. $15 million will come from other investors.
After the news was released, Lee's stock shot up more than 20% on Tuesday, closing at $4.50.
"It will be interesting to see if Hoffmann will invest in original, distinctive local reporting that will drive digital subscriptions, which he seems to think is a key component of his business model," Franklin advised.
