Lee Enterprises, Inc. loses $5.7 million in first quarter; personnel cuts helped trim red ink

Lee Enterprises, Inc. began its new fiscal year with more red ink, losing $5.7 million in the first quarter ended December 28.

Thanks to significant personnel cuts last September the deficit was much less than the first quarter of 2025 when it lost $16.9 million. The company cut 49 full- and part-time positions when it ended print operations at its Davenport facility last September.

Lee – owner of the Quad City Times, the Dispatch/Argus and some 70 other newspapers and online news sites – saw operating revenue decline by more than $14 million in the first quarter of 2026 compared with the same period a year ago.

Operating expenses were down more than $23 million in the first quarter in large part because employee compensation fell nearly $11 million compared with the same period in 2025. The quarter's results also included $2 million received from its insurance carrier in partial payment of damages from a cyber incursion to Lee's computer system last year.

Newly installed interim chief executive Nathan Bekke stated in the company news release the financial results "exceeded our expectations."

The first quarter results were the first since the company began operating under a new board headed by Florida billionaire David Hoffmann, who led a $50-million investment in the media company announced Dec. 30.

"This transaction strengthens the company's balance sheet which will further fuel our digital transformation and drive long-term shareholder value," Bekke stated.

The investment also will trigger a reduction in the interest rate being paid on the company's $455-million debt, held by a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway. The reduction to 5 percent from 9 percent will lower interest costs an estimated $18 million per year over the five-year term of the agreement.

CLICK HERE to download the company's earnings news release and financial results.