Lee Enterprises to sell Provo (UT) Daily Herald to Ogden NewspapersBack to News

Davenport, IA – August 22, 2016 – Lee Enterprises Incorporated (NYSE: LEE), a major provider of local news, information and advertising in 49 markets, has entered into an agreement to sell its newspaper and digital media operations in Provo, Utah, to Ogden Newspapers of Utah LLC, including the Daily Herald and heraldextra.com.

Dirks, Van Essen & Murray, a merger and acquisition firm based in Santa Fe, New Mexico, is representing Lee Enterprises in the sale. The transaction is expected to close August 29, 2016.

The Daily Herald is published seven days a week with print circulation of approximately 15,900 daily and nearly 27,000 Sunday. Heraldextra.com reaches approximately 700,000 unique visitors each month.

The earliest predecessor of the Daily Herald was founded in 1873 under the name Provo Daily Times. The company was purchased in 1926 by James G. Scripps, eldest son of newspaper magnate E.W. Scripps. The Scripps family held the newspaper until the mid-1990s, when it was sold to Pulitzer Newspapers, which held it for a decade. In 2005 it was sold, along with a number of other Pulitzer properties, to Lee Enterprises.

"Provo is a great market, and we’re confident that the new ownership will continue to deliver strong local news and information to the Provo community," said Kevin Mowbray, president and chief executive officer of Lee Enterprises.

"We are pleased and proud to have been selected to be the successor owners of the Daily Herald," said Robert Nutting, president and chief executive officer of Ogden Newspapers. "We believe that newspapers like the Daily Herald and its related digital platforms provide tremendous value both in print and online with trustworthy news reporting and effective advertising. Provo and Utah County is an exceptional and vibrant market."

Ogden Newspapers is a diversified, family-owned media corporation that publishes 40 daily newspapers, weekly newspapers and shoppers located in 14 states, from Florida to upstate New York and as far west as Maui, Hawaii. The company has been headquartered in Wheeling, West Virginia, since September 22, 1890.

Lee Enterprises is a premier provider of local news, information and advertising in its markets, with 45 daily newspapers and a joint interest in four others, rapidly growing digital products and nearly 300 specialty publications in 22 states. Lee markets include St. Louis, MO; Madison, WI; Billings, MT; Davenport, IA, and Tucson, AZ. Lee Common Stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol LEE.

For more information, contact Dirks, Van Essen & Murray at 505-820-2700.