Articles from Alden Global Capital, LLC

Alden Global Capital, LLC announced that its affiliate filed a lawsuit seeking to prevent Lee from brazenly disenfranchising shareholders by rigging the upcoming director election to guarantee the re-election of entrenched directors who have profited substantially even while the company is in a downward spiral and its journalism is suffering. After announcing in December 2021 that no valid stockholder nominations had been received, and winning a court ruling on that point, Lee is now using an illegal voting standard that prevents shareholders from meaningfully participating if they wish to vote against two deeply entrenched directors -- Mary Junck and Herbert Moloney. This year's election is of particular importance since these directors are only up every three years.

Alden Global Capital, LLC (together with its affiliates, "Alden" or "we"), who through an affiliate has an ownership stake of approximately 6.3% of Lee Enterprises, Incorporated (“Lee” or the “Company”) (NASDAQ: LEE), today issued a statement in response to the Delaware Chancery Court’s decision to uphold Lee’s invalidation of Alden’s two highly qualified and fully independent director candidates and announced that its affiliate will be filing preliminary proxy materials with the SEC for a “Vote No” campaign seeking shareholder support to compel the resignations of two extremely long-tenured and deeply entrenched incumbent candidates – Mary Junck and Herbert Moloney III – and to send a clear message that meaningful governance improvements and Board enhancements are required at Lee to turn around years of poor performance.

Lee's disappointing results and 2022 guidance continue to demonstrate the need for a new strategy and new leadership that prioritizes readers and local journalism. When Lee acquired the Berkshire newspapers in February 2020, they guided towards Pro-Forma Revenue of ~$922mm and Pro-Forma Adj. EBITDA of ~$171mm. The Lee Board is now guiding to a Fiscal Year 22 Adj. EBITDA of $95-98mm. Not only is Fiscal Year 22 Adj. EBITDA a miss of ~$74mm, down a whopping 43% vs. the February 2020 Plan, but Lee’s standalone Adj. EBITDA excluding the Berkshire acquisition is also ~$17mm or 15% below Lee's Adj. EBITDA prior to the Berkshire acquisition of $113.5mm. Just as concerning is Lee’s LTM Revenue performance of $785mm which is down ~$137mm or ~15% vs. the February 2020 Plan.

Alden Global Capital, LLC (together with its affiliates, "Alden" or "we"), who through an affiliate has an ownership stake of approximately 6.3% of Lee Enterprises, Incorporated (“Lee” or the “Company”) (NASDAQ: LEE), today announced that its affiliate has filed preliminary proxy materials with the SEC regarding the election of two highly qualified and fully independent directors to Lee’s Board of Directors (the “Board”) at the upcoming 2022 Annual Meeting of Stockholders (the “2022 Annual Meeting”).

Alden Global Capital, LLC today sent the following letter to the Board of Directors of Lee Enterprises (NASDAQ: LEE):