The owner of several large newspapers in the Midwest on Thursday rebuffed the latest attempt at a takeover by a hedge fund known for gutting the news outlets it buys.
Lee Enterprises shareholders voted to at its annual shareholder meeting. That fended off a campaign by Alden Global Capital that aimed to unseat the incumbent directors after a judge
In a statement, Lee said shareholders re-elected chairman Mary Junck, chief executive Kevin Mowbray and lead independent director Herbert Moloney with each getting more than 70% votes cast in their favor.
Iowa-based Lee Enterprises owns the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and 23 other Midwest newspapers. In November, Lee , a hedge fund with a reputation for saddling its newspapers with debt, aggressively cutting costs and downsizing newsroom payrolls.
Alden Global Capital did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the shareholders鈥� vote.
Jeff Gordon, president of the union that represents staffers at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, said the union's members voted their combined 300 shares to re-elect Lee鈥檚 nominees.
鈥淣ormally the guild would be skirmishing with the board over issues,鈥� Gordon said. 鈥淏ut in this case 鈥� given the fact that Alden was making a hostile takeover attempt and does not commit to journalism to the level Lee has 鈥� we actually voted our shares in favor of the existing board.鈥�
Gordon and the other news unions under Lee urged the company to continue fending off Alden鈥檚 proposition for a sale. Gordon said while Lee isn鈥檛 the best steward of its newspapers, an
鈥淲e will continue to stress the need to invest in journalism,鈥� Gordon said.
鈥淏ut as we always tell Lee, they鈥檙e less terrible than the alternative 鈥� the half-hearted compliment we often give Lee.鈥�Jeff Gordon, union president
Last month, Lee Enterprises laid off two top editors at the Omaha World-Herald, garnering criticism from journalists and the .
Harris Kupperman is president of Praetorian Capital and the company鈥檚 second-largest shareholder with 7.3% of Lee鈥檚 shares. He has been critical of Alden鈥檚 takeover attempt, calling the offer 鈥渋nsufficient and opportunistic.鈥�
On Thursday, he applauded shareholders for re-electing Junck, Mowbray and Moloney.
鈥淚 think it shows that shareholders think the current path is a good path. They could always do a better job but for right now shareholders like the path they鈥檙e on,鈥� Kupperman said. 鈥淚 think they鈥檙e doing the right thing by transitioning to digital. Digital is the future and they need to go faster.鈥�
Kupperman said he was disappointed to see Lee Enterprises spend money fighting Alden鈥檚 鈥渧ote no鈥� campaign.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 money that should be reinvested in the business, not in lawyers,鈥� Kupperman said.
Gordon said he expects Alden will continue pressuring Lee for a sale.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 think Alden is going anywhere,鈥� Gordon said. 鈥淚t will be interesting to see at what point Alden attempts to make a different offer and everybody will be keeping on the stock as well which has come down some but is still considerably higher than what Alden offered.鈥�
This story comes from the Midwest Newsroom, an investigative journalism collaboration including , , , and .
