Hoffmann increases its ownership of top national newspaper chain

The Hoffmann Family of Cos. has increased its ownership stake in Lee Enterprises, a chain of national newspapers.

The Naples conglomerate announced this week that it now owns a 9.7% share of Lee and is the chain’s second largest shareholder behind Quint Digital Limited.

Hoffmann has previously stated its desire to become the top shareholder of the company. 

“We have and will continue to purchase shares in the company as market conditions present themselves,” David Hoffmann, Hoffmann’s chairman, says in a statement.

“We believe in newspapers, local journalism, and digital media. We have been and continue to be successful throughout the country with our media assets. I'm not going away, and we will continue to invest. We feel local journalism is a part of the fabric of America and will invest to protect it and help it prosper.”

Iowa-based Lee Enterprises owns The St. Louis Post-Dispatch, The Richmond Times-Dispatch and the Buffalo News, among other publications including 350 weekly and specialty publications.

David Hoffman told the Business Observer this fall that his company began buying into Lee in late September and mid-October with around a $12 million to $13 million investment in a series of stock purchases.

Hoffmann’s newspaper arm, Hoffmann Media Group, already owns 19 publications covering 30 markets spread from Michigan to California to Florida. The list of titles includes Florida Weekly, with editions in six Florida markets — Bonita Springs, Charlotte County, Fort Myers, Key West, Naples and Palm Beach — and the Ave Maria Sun, Florida Health Care News and the Mackinac Island Town Crier in Michigan.

In late September, Hoffmann Media bought Napa Valley Publishing Co. from Lee Enterprises for an undisclosed sum. Napa Valley’s publications include a pair in Northern California that began publishing more than 150 years ago.

And in an Nov. 14 SEC disclosure form, the company announced it had bought 239,516 shares of DallasNews Corp., parent of The Dallas Morning News, for $1.31 million. That's about a 5% stake in the company. (All the shares were purchased by the Jerrilyn M. Hoffmann Revocable Trust; Jerri Hoffmann is Dave Hoffmann's wife.)

In the statement announcing its latest stake in Lee, Hoffmann says that combining his media company and Lee,“HF Companies would own the second-largest newspaper group in the country.”

The largest newspaper company, based on number of total daily publications, is USA Today owner Gannett, with some 250 publications.

The Hoffmann Family of Cos. first came to Naples in 2015 when it bought a $75 million portfolio that included seven properties and a parking lot.

Today, it owns more than 100 national brands and employs 9,000 employees with businesses located in 30 countries.