Warren Buffet

Lee Enterprises cancels special shareholder meeting; session was to consider unusual 'rights' issue

With no explanation, Lee Enterprises, Inc. canceled a special shareholders meeting seeking approval of a "rights offering" intended to raise $50 million for working capital and company operations.

In a three-sentence filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) posted Thursday, Dec. 18, the company stated it "decided to cancel the special meeting" set for the next day, Dec. 19, and had "withdrawn from consideration the proposal set forth in the Proxy Statement."

The company – owner of some 70 print and online publications including the Quad City Times and Dispatch/Argus – announced Nov. 13 it was planning to seek approval of the unusual "rights offering" as a way to pay for its "digital transformation" and lower the interest rate on its $450 million debt.

Lee posts $1.3 million loss in 4th quarter and fiscal year; huge debt continues to dog financial results

If only Lee Enterprises, owner of the Quad City Times and Dispatch/Argus, wasn't $538 million in debt.

It would have had $47 million more in income during the past fiscal year to invest back into its 77 newspapers and news web site markets.

And in the fourth quarter ended Sept. 27, the company would have had $12.4 million less in interest expenses, resulting in an $11.1-million profit rather than a $1.3 million loss.

Lee pays Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway $37 million in debt repayments after furloughing staff, cutting pay

After furloughing hundreds of Lee Enterprise employees during the coronavirus economic downturn last quarter, the media company was able to pay billionaire Warren Buffet's finance company $36.7 million under the debt refinancing deal agreed to earlier this year.

Lee – owner of the Quad City Times and Dispatch/Argus and 75 other daily newspapers and online news sites – owes Buffet's BH Finance LLC more than $539 million, which carries an annual interest rate of 9 percent.

Subscribe to Warren Buffet
Go to top