Buffet Selling The Buffalo News

The Buffalo News reports it is being sold to Lee Enterprises Inc., an Iowa-based owner of 50 newspapers, mostly in the Midwest.

The News had been owned by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. since 1977. Lee is only the third owner in the 140-year history of The News.

The deal to buy The News includes Berkshire Hathaway’s separate BH Media Group, which Lee has managed for Berkshire Hathaway since the summer of 2018. The total deal is valued at $140 million cash, according to a release from Lee, and is expected to close in mid-March.

The news was announced in a statement by Lee shortly after 7 a.m. today.

“My partner Charlie Munger and I have known and admired the Lee organization for over 40 years,” Buffett said in a statement this morning. “They have delivered exceptional performance managing BH Media’s newspapers and continue to outpace the industry in digital market share and revenue.

"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. No organization is more committed to serving the vital role of high-quality local news, however delivered, as Lee. I am confident that our newspapers will be in the right hands going forward and I also am pleased to be deepening our long-term relationship with Lee through the financing agreement.”

News Publisher Warren T. Colville said, "The Buffalo News' commitment to covering our community is unwavering, and we look forward to continuing that tradition under our new ownership."

In its statement, Lee said it has identified approximately $20 million to $25 million of “highly achievable annual synergies.” Specifically, the statement cites “revenue synergies from the management of digital advertising and subscriber programs, and cost synergies, primarily from the reduction of administrative expenses.”

The Buffalo Evening News was founded by Edward H. Butler in 1880. It was owned by the Butler family until Berkshire Hathaway’s 1977 purchase.

Lee previously owned 50 daily newspapers. With today’s deal, it will own 81.