BUFFALO, N.Y. – Billionaire David Hoffmann, already a news media mogul, wants to buy the newspaper chain that owns the Winona Daily News. Hoffman didn’t say how much he would pay but suggested that Lee Enterprises was not in a good negotiating position to refuse. He noted that Lee listed a $16 million net loss in its latest quarterly report and continues to sell non-core assets to stay afloat, Hoffmann’s core asset is the Buffalo News, circulation 69,000. He also holds papers in 2o other locations. These include the Napa Valley Register on California, which he acquired recently from Lee. Hoffmann already is a Lee insider. He owns 10% of Lee’s stock. A bright spot with Lee, he said, is that its digital business generates more revenue than its print products.
Earlier: Stealthy price hike: Daily News suddenly $35
Earlier: Lee news chain resists hedge fund take-over
Earlier: Alden hedge fund moves in on Lee chain
Earlier: Almanac: Lee Enterprises
Hoffmann. His net worth: $2 billion. His newspapers combined with Lee’s would create the second largest U.S. newspaper chain.
Verbatim
Hoffmann: “Local news and journalism is important to me. It’s something that I’d like to invest in and preserve, and at the same time I think we’ll be successful from an investment point of view. We’re pretty good at getting advertisers to advertise in the hard copy, as well as the transformation into digital media. We think there’s a place for both.”