Lee Enterprises buys competing newspapers in Quad-Cities
Davenport, Iowa-based Lee Enterprises is buying the assets of the Moline Dispatch and Rock Island Argus daily newspapers across the Mississippi River in Illinois.
Lee publishes the Quad City Times in Davenport, and the acquisition of the two competing newspapers in Illinois expands its coverage of the two-state Quad-Cities market.
The deal announced Monday includes QCOnline.com.
Lee says it is paying Kankakee, Ill.-based Small Newspaper Group $7.15 million for the assets, including an adjustment for working capital. The deal is expected to close this month.
“TheDispatch-Argus is a perfect strategic fit for Lee,” said Lee President and Chief Executive Officer Kevin Mowbray. “It is adjacent to two of our Iowa enterprises, in Davenport and Muscatine, so this will expand our audiences and create additional synergy opportunities. We expect the acquisition to provide immediate value, accretive to both earnings and free cash flow.”
The Dispatch and Argus are published seven mornings a week, with a combined average daily circulation of over 25,000.
Debbie Anselm, publisher of the Quad-City Times and the Muscatine Journal, will become publisher of The Dispatch-Argus, succeeding Gerald J. Taylor.
“Our newspapers share rich histories of community leadership dating to the mid-1800s,” Anselm said.
Small Newspaper Group President Len R. Small said, “The choice of selling this property after a half-century was a difficult, but necessary move. It has been a great journey under the leadership of Gerald J. Taylor, whose storied career includes the launching of the Sunday edition, the purchase of the Rock Island Argus, the conversion to morning delivery and the founding of QCOnline.com at the beginning of the digital age.”
Lee owns daily newspapers, other publications and digital products in 21 states. Lee’s holdings include the Racine Journal Times and the La Crosse Tribune. Lee also owns a stake in Capital Newspapers, which publishes the Wisconsin State Journal in Madison.