The newspaper industry has decayed so much in recent years that even Warren Buffett — the world-famous investor whose annual meetings have included a newspaper toss — has declared the business “toast.”
But another billionaire is placing a counterintuitive bet that local newspapers aren’t dead yet. David Hoffmann, a Florida investor worth $1.6 billion, who has purchased more than 5 percent of Lee Enterprises, one of America’s largest newspaper companies, wants to buy up a controlling stake.
Mr. Hoffmann, 72, acknowledged in an interview Friday that investing in local newspapers in 2024 is a somewhat quixotic proposition. But he said that he believes print newspapers are “a key part of the American fabric.” He also thinks Lee Enterprises is undervalued by the stock market and a smart financial bet.
“These local newspapers are really important to these communities,” Mr. Hoffmann said. “With the digital age and technology, it’s changing rapidly. But I think there’s room for both, and we’d like to be a part of that.”
Mr. Hoffmann is a relative newcomer to the struggling newspaper industry. The founder of DHR Global, an executive search firm, Mr. Hoffmann parleyed his early success into a sprawling hodgepodge of companies including Mitch’s Cookies, Oberweis Dairy, the Florida Everblades minor-league hockey team and Linstol, a manufacturer of in-flight airline amenities like blankets and headsets. His family of companies, based in Naples, Fla., also includes a media group that has accumulated a handful of small newspapers, including the Mackinac Island Town Crier on Mackinac Island in Michigan and Northern California’s Napa Valley Register, a former Lee newspaper.
According to a securities filing last week, a trust connected to Mr. Hoffmann’s family paid roughly $4 million for a 5.2 percent stake in Lee Enterprises, the fourth-largest newspaper chain in the country. The company, based in Davenport, Iowa, owns roughly 75 newspapers in 26 states, including The St. Louis Post-Dispatch and The Buffalo News — which it bought from Mr. Buffett’s BH Media Group in 2020.
