Lee Enterprises, which owns such newspapers as the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and the Buffalo News, said that a potential takeover by the hedge fund wasn’t in its shareholders‘ best interests.
Lee Enterprises, a newspaper publisher, declined an offer from the Alden Global Capital hedge fund Thursday to buy the company for about $141 million (equivalent to $24 per share), saying that a potential takeover by the hedge fund wasn’t in its shareholders‘ best interests. „The Alden proposal grossly undervalues Lee and fails to recognize the strength of our business today, as the fastest-growing digital subscription platform in local media, and our compelling future prospects,“ Lee Chairman Mary Junck said. „We remain confident in our ability to create significant value as an independent company,“ she added. Lee’s board unanimously rejected Alden’s proposal, the company said on the same day it reported a $5.3 million fiscal fourth-quarter profit. The profit is a stark increase from its $1.3 million loss a year ago—coupled with a 65 percent increase of digital-only subscribers to 402,000. Alden, one of the largest newspaper owners in the country, has stood out for its steep cost cuts and layoffs. Meanwhile, Lee owns dozens of newspapers, among them the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and the Buffalo News. Unions from the Lee newspapers encouraged the company’s board of directors in a letter on Nov.29 to resist Alden’s offers. „They are not good stewards of their investments. They do not try to run a sustainable news company. They will not turn profits by growing the business and increasing revenue. They will do so by gutting newsrooms,“ the letter read. The Omaha World-Herald ’s union, which described Alden as „the assassin of local news“ in a tweet late last month, thanked the board on Twitter Thursday for rejecting the offer but warned that it doesn’t necessarily put an end to Alden’s advances.
