Amid published reports of declining profits and circulation among the nation’s daily newspapers, the Tulsa World has been sold again for the second time since 2013.
Lee Enterprises, Inc., of Davenport, Iowa, has purchased the Tulsa World along with 29 other daily papers owned by BH Media Group, a Berkshire Hathaway company owned by billionaire Warren Buffett.
“We had zero interest in selling the group to anyone else for one simple reason – we believe that Lee is best positioned to manage through the industry’s challenges,” Buffett said in a press release.
The New York Times reported, “In a letter to his newspaper publishers in 2012, Mr. Buffett described himself as a newspaper ‘addict’ with designs on buying more papers. But Mr. Buffett grew pessimistic about the business more recently because of drops in advertising revenue. In an interview last year, he said that most newspapers were ‘toast.’”
Buffett bought the Tulsa World from the Lorton Family, which had owned and operated the newspaper for almost 100 years. In 1992, the Lorton Family purchased the Tulsa Tribune and closed its doors.
The sale to Lee includes Owasso Reporter, Wagoner County American-Tribune, Sand Springs Leader and Skiatook Journal.
The total sales price for the 31 daily papers (and 49 weekly papers) was $140 million and included The Buffalo News, which was separately owned by Berkshire Hathaway.
As part of the deal, Berkshire Hathaway will provide $576 million in long-term financing to Lee at a rate of 9% year. According to a Lee press release, proceeds from the financing will refinance about $400 million in existing debt and will make Berkshire Hathaway Lee’s only lender.
According to Lee’s press release, Berkshire Hathaway Media Group had 2019 revenues of $373.4 million and adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization) of $47.4 million. Lee has managed BHMG’s publications since July 2018 under a management agreement.
“This unique transaction is immediately accretive to earnings, decreases leverage and provides compelling refinancing terms, while avoiding tens of millions in fees associated with traditional refinancing agreements and no intermediaries were involved,” Kevin Mowbray, Lee President and CEO, said in a press release.
Now, Lee’s number of daily papers rises from 50 to 81.
The sale includes these daily papers:
- Alabama – Dothan Eagle, Opelika-Auburn News
- Iowa – The Daily Nonpareil in Council Bluffs
- Nebraska – Omaha World-Herald, The Grand Island Independent, Scottsbluff Star-Herald, The North Platte Telegraph, Kearney Hub, York News-Times
- New Jersey – The Press of Atlantic City
- New York – The Buffalo News
- North Carolina – Winston-Salem Journal, Greensboro News & Record, The News Herald in Morganton, The McDowell News, Statesville Record and Landmark, Hickory Daily Record
- Oklahoma – Tulsa World (plus weeklies Owasso Reporter, Wagoner County American-Tribune, Sand Springs Leader, Skiatook Journal)
- South Carolina – The Florence Morning News
- Texas – The Eagle in Bryan-College Station, Waco Tribune-Herald
- Virginia – Richmond Times-Dispatch, The Daily Progress in Charlottesville, The Roanoke Times, Bristol Herald Courier, News & Advance in Lynchburg, Martinsville Bulletin, Danville Register & Bee, The Free Lance-Star in Fredericksburg, Culpeper Star-Exponent, The News Virginian in Waynesboro