Lee Enterprises Inc. (The Bottom Line)

Business Record (Des Moines), May, 2002

As of Sept. 30, 2001, Lee Enterprises Inc. owned, in all or in part, 28 daily newspapers and more than 100 weekly, classified and specialty publications in mid-size and smaller markets stretching from the Midwest to the Pacific Northwest. It also operated Web sites associated with its publications and eight commercial printing businesses, including Hawkeye Printing of Davenport.

On April 1,2002, the company completed purchases of 17 daily newspapers. The acquisitions raised Lee's total daily circulation to more than 1.1 million, an increase in excess of 75 percent. They also broadened the company's geographic diversification, adding operations in the Northeast, the South and California.

Following the acquisitions, Lee has an even more extensive presence in...