The Wall Street Journal has an interesting story on the dreams of David Hoffmann.
It notes he's the founder of Hoffmann Media. It adds that he owns 8.7 percent of Lee Enterprises, whose flagship is the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and which also owns a number of medium and larger dailies/former print dailies. That includes the Waco Tribune and the Bryan-College Station Eagle here in Texas. He also, just disclosed by him, has 5 percent of the Dallas Morning News' parent.
And, he wants to get this all combined.
He's already bought one small regional cluster off Lee, and said he's had some friendly talks with them. He's not yet talked with Belo. I think they'd be hesitant, but who knows?
On Lee, the story continues that he's only No. 2, apparently. An Indian investor last year acquired more than 10 percent, and the company adopted a poison pill in response.
Hoffmann said he thinks the American newspaper industry is undervalued. He also said any acquisition attempts would be non-hostile.
Beyond that, it looks audacious. Hoffmann Media is a bunch of nondaily and small daily papers, as in stuff primarily nondaily in print before COVID.
Besides the Post-Dispatch, Lee's papers include the Arizona Daily Star in Tucson, Sioux City, Council Bluffs and Davenport in Iowa, the Omaha Herald and Lincoln Journal Star in Nebraska, Buffalo News, Tulsa World, etc, etc. Unless Hoffmann has a LOT of money elsewhere, or some VERY friendly banksters, how does he pull this off? Per Forbes, he's got a real estate mini-empire, and he's from near St. Louis, so a personal interest in Lee's top newspapers. I think he'd have to do some liquidation of his real estate assets as part of such a move.
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