May 8, 2025 (St. Louis Post-Dispatch) –
DAVENPORT, Iowa — Lee Enterprises, parent company of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and other newspapers, again got its lender to waive its monthly interest payment, the third month in a row the company has delayed debt payments in order to free up capital to recover from a cyberattack.
But this time, Lee’s sole lender, Berkshire Hathaway Finance, demanded some concessions from Lee in exchange for another month of grace. Lee said the March and April interest payment waivers each freed up $3.7 million in capital to put toward remediating the impacts of a February hack that hobbled publication of many of Lee’s smaller papers for weeks.
The delayed interest payments were added to the company’s principal, which stood at $446 million at the end of last year.
Lee said in a Monday securities filing that, in exchange for a third month of allowing Lee to delay its debt payment, Berkshire Hathaway and Lee made changes to their 2020 debt agreement inked when Lee consolidated its debt and purchased the papers owned by Warren Buffett’s news subsidiary.
One of the changes requires that any proceeds from asset sales over $500,000 be immediately used to repay the debt. That could complicate a sale of any assets to the Hoffmann Family of Companies, whose billionaire founder David Hoffmann hails from the area and has expressed interest in purchasing Lee or some of its assets.
Another change allows Berkshire Hathaway Finance to assign the debt to “any person.” Before, the debt agreement only allowed Berkshire Hathaway Finance to assign the debt to “any of its affiliates.” That could free up Berkshire to unload the debt to other firms.
On Saturday, 94-year-old Buffett announced plans to retire at Berkshire Hathaway chief executive officer at the end of the year.
Lee Enterprises stock, which closed at $8.11 Wednesday, has lost more than half its value in the last six months. Its market capitalization stood at $50 million Wednesday.
The company is scheduled to report quarterly earnings on Thursday.
Warren Buffett shocks shareholders by announcing his intention to retire at the end of the year
Buffett, who is 94, said he will recommend to Berkshire Hathaway’s board that Greg Abel should become CEO at the end of the year.
Lee Enterprises, owner of Post-Dispatch, says cyberattack targeted ‘critical applications’
Post-Dispatch owner says “threat actors” accessed the company network, targeting “critical applications” and stealing data.
‘Cybersecurity event’ disrupts operations at Post-Dispatch, other Lee Enterprises newspapers
The attack, which occurred Monday, has affected newspapers throughout the chain.
St. Louis Post-Dispatch parent extends ‘poison pill’ following Hoffmann purchase bid
Even as it bolstered itself against a takeover, the company's board said it would hear out the billionaire investor's proposal.
David Hoffmann offers to open talks on buying Lee Enterprises, owner of Post-Dispatch
The billionaire investor from the St. Louis area says he wants to preserve local news, "a fundamental component of journalism and the communities it serves."
Post-Dispatch print facility ends 146-year run in St. Louis
On Sunday night, press workers at the Maryland Heights printing plant wiped down machines and posed for photos as trucks carrying Monday's paper headed out into the snow.
'It comes to an end tonight.' The last locally-printed St. Louis Post-Dispatch newspaper comes off the press
"This is the last day that we're going to print [locally] after the 146 year history of the Post-Dispatch," pressman Matt Deters, of St. Louis, said as he started the printing press for the final time on Sunday, Jan. 5, 2025, at the Pulitzer Publishing Center in St. Louis. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch ended its local print operations at the Maryland Heights factory on Sunday and will now print the newspaper at a facility in Columbia, Mo.
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