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Glass Lewis Joins ISS in Recommending FOR Lee’s Three Director Nominees
DAVENPORT, Iowa, March 02, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Lee Enterprises Inc. (NASDAQ: LEE) (“Lee” or the “Company”), today announced that independent proxy advisory firm Glass, Lewis & Co., LLC (“Glass Lewis”) has recommended that Lee shareholders vote on Lee’s WHITE proxy card “FOR” all of Lee’s director nominees.
With a similar recommendation from Institutional Shareholder Services’ (“ISS”) announced yesterday, both leading proxy advisory firms have rejected the “Withhold” campaign that Alden Global Capital LLC (together with its affiliates, “Alden”) is waging against two of Lee’s nominees.
The Lee Enterprises Board of Directors commented:
“We urge shareholders to ignore Alden’s disingenuous, self-serving campaign and support the Lee nominees, consistent with the Glass Lewis and ISS recommendations. Lee’s three nominees – Chairman Mary Junck, Lead Independent Director Herb Moloney and CEO Kevin Mowbray – are key leaders guiding the transformation and growth of our business. We look forward to continuing to benefit from their experience, valuable insights and hard work as we execute our strategy and build value for all shareholders.”
In making its recommendation, Glass Lewis noted1:
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“Upon review of the facts and circumstances surrounding this campaign, we find significant cause to question Alden's actions and we do not believe Lee's shareholders would be best served by supporting its campaign.”
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“…[W]e find Lee's total shareholder returns have been strong in recent periods, particularly since the BHMG acquisition and over the last 12 to 18 months as the Company has reported progress and measurable results on its transformation strategy. Those results include industry-leading growth in digital subscribers, digital advertising revenue and total digital revenue, achieved under the current board and management's strategy.”
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“…Alden's reputation and track record, stated view on how to fix newspaper firms for the digital environment and recent campaigns at two other newspaper companies suggest Alden is attempting to advance its well-established agenda by seeking to destabilize Lee's current leadership with hopes of acquiring the Company on the cheap.”
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“Based on the strategy and results this board has delivered to date since Lee embarked on its transformation process… we see no reason to support efforts that would threaten to disrupt the Company's progress or potentially enable an investor with questionable intentions to seek to reap the benefits of this strategy or the inherent value of Lee solely for itself.”