David Hoffmann is investing millions to preserve local newspapers

David Hoffmann is ignoring the naysayers who wrote off newspapers a long time ago. He sees things differently.

Hoffmann believes in the power of local news to strengthen communities and the country, and he’s backed that conviction with tens of millions of dollars.

“You know,” Hoffmann says with a grin, “We’re running right toward some things that everybody else is running away from.”  

That's why in February, Hoffmann became the chairman of the board of Lee Enterprises, which owns this newspaper and publications in more than 100 other markets.

To understand why he’s doing this — and how he’s able to — requires a look at an improbable backstory.

Hoffmann grew up in Washington, Missouri, a small town west of St. Louis. His dad was a milkman, his mother a waitress, and they struggled to put food on the table and buy coal to heat the house. They had no running hot water. “Those things stay with you,” Hoffmann says quietly.  

As a star high school athlete, he attended Northeast Missouri State on an athletic scholarship and earned his degree from the University of Central Missouri. He got his start in the corporate world and eventually found his way to the executive search business, which he loved. Hoffmann started his own search firm, which thrived, and eventually gave him the chance to acquire more businesses.

Hoffmann now owns 127 companies. In June, his purchase of the Pittsburgh Penguins was finalized, a $1.75 billion deal. He has made the Forbes Billionaires List for five straight years, this year rising to No. 1,571 among the world’s richest people.

In 2023, Hoffmann received the Horatio Alger Award, a prestigious honor recognizing people who have overcome significant obstacles to achieve success.

It’s funny, the events that change a life.

When he was just 9 years old, Hoffmann pitched a no-hitter for his Little League team. The life-changing moment, though, came afterward.

The local newspaper, the Missourian, wrote a story about the no-hitter and ran it with Hoffmann’s picture. 

“That made a huge impact on me,” Hoffmann says. “It piqued my interest in the newspaper, and I started reading it.” 

He never stopped. 

“I can honestly say that from the time I was in fourth grade to the present, through high school, college, throughout my career, wherever I’ve lived all over the country, I always kept up with Washington, Missouri,” he says. “Stayed in touch with local news. That great, fabulous newspaper kept me connected to my community, even when I was living in other parts of the world.” 

The motivation to save newspapers

Five years ago, Hoffmann wanted to read about the athletic exploits of his grandchildren in the Chicago area. Unfortunately, that type of local sports coverage wasn’t as plentiful as he had expected, Hoffmann remembers. He found out that the Pioneer Press in Glenview, one of Chicago’s northern suburbs, had recently closed up shop.  

“It made me realize what that meant for many small communities across America,” he says. “The newspaper builds the fabric of a community, celebrates it. What’s going to take the place of that?”  

Hoffmann believes that sense of belonging that he remembers from growing up in a small town is essential to the country’s future. “What will we become without it?” he asks. “A country of driverless cars and not knowing our neighbors and our kids sitting there playing video games? Is that what we want?  

“In today’s transient world,” he continues, “people can live wherever they want to live, but I’ve got to believe where you’re living, you want to like it, or you’re going to find a way to move someplace else. I think people want to be proud of where they live. And there’s no better way to make that happen than with a newspaper."  

So in 2022, Hoffmann started buying community newspapers.  

He bought the Missourian. He’s very proud to own his 125-year-old hometown newspaper. He kept buying papers — 42 titles so far, which would by itself make him one of the country’s larger newspaper investors. 

But Hoffmann also has been a shareholder in Lee Enterprises, the publicly traded company that owns newspapers nationwide, including The Buffalo News, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the Omaha World-Herald and others.

In February, Hoffmann led a $50 million strategic equity private placement in Lee, investing $35 million personally and guaranteeing the rest, which was raised from Lee’s existing investors. Simultaneously, Hoffmann joined Lee’s board of directors as its chairman. 

The transaction had a huge impact on the company’s cash position, making the balance sheet much healthier and lowering the interest on its debt from 9% to 5%, which means an estimated $90 million in savings over five years, or $18 million per year. Lee’s stock price is up sharply since the announcement. 

Hoffmann named Nathan Bekke, who has worked for Lee for more than 35 years, as the company CEO.

“We ran a nationwide search and figured out that we had the right guy right here,” Hoffmann says.

The local tie that binds

One of the first things Hoffmann made clear was that he’s not interested in eliminating the print versions of his newspapers — or Lee’s.

Strengthen digital content and presentation, yes. But not to the exclusion of the company’s print operations.  

“These newspapers will all continue to have a print edition,” Hoffmann says, “unless I go broke, and I don’t think that’s going to happen.”  

He has made that pledge to community leaders as he has toured the larger Lee markets since assuming his role, adding that frequency of print publication may be reduced, but the print nameplates will endure.  

That’s startling, in an industry where the future is almost universally seen as all digital. But Hoffmann knows that advertisers and a significant number of the company’s customers still want a print product. And his new CEO agrees.

“Our commitment to print is not about resisting change. It is about serving customers,” Bekke says. “At the same time, we continue investing in digital products, digital subscriptions and digital audience growth. The future of local news is not a choice between print and digital. It is about a business that leverages the strength of both. David understands that balance well.”  

Bekke and Hoffmann say they have grown close, not because of their roles but because of their shared beliefs surrounding the importance of sustaining strong community news throughout the country.   

“David’s approach is often described as hyperlocal, and I think that’s fair,” Bekke says. "In many ways, it is a concentrated expression of principles that have guided my own career for decades. Local decisions matter, local journalism matters, and communities are best served when news organizations are deeply connected to the people they cover. "

Here is what has been most refreshing for Lee’s newsrooms: The company, since Hoffmann’s investment, has modestly reinvested in key local news reporting jobs. At each place Hoffmann has visited, and in some Lee properties he has not yet seen in person, newsrooms have increased the number of journalists covering their communities, often with new reporters covering local business and development or high school sports.   

Hoffmann’s thoughts on editorial content are clear. He is passionate about business news, and believes that inevitably, to be successful, local newspapers must support local businesses, and vice versa.   He believes in strong local sports coverage, and a fair and balanced look at a community’s full ecosystem. 

Lee newspapers in recent months have launched The Bright Side, an initiative to tell local stories that are uplifting and positive. There is no shortage of these, and the response from readers has been, well, positive.  Lee's reporters also spent a lot of reporting octane exploring what America’s 250th birthday means to local readers.

“Just like life, local news is all about balance. We will always investigate corruption and shed light on malfeasance, but we also owe it to our readers to showcase the good in their community,” says Lee Chief Content Officer Jason Adrians, who has been with the company for more than 25 years and also served as national news editor, executive editor at the Wisconsin State Journal in Madison and top editor at the Casper Star-Tribune in Wyoming. “Our chairman’s focus on balance and fairness isn’t just responsible, it’s refreshing. Our readers deserve it.”

Hoffmann’s overall business, the Hoffmann Family of Companies, is growing rapidly. At last count, Hoffmann owns 127 companies. His two sons, Geoff and Greg Hoffmann, run the private equity and real estate arms of the business, respectively.

“It’s … unique. Not many families get to experience something like this, especially with the level of success we’ve had,” Greg Hoffmann says of the working arrangement.

David Hoffmann, though, is spending a great deal of time on his newspaper mission. 

And a new development: Lee has entered into an agreement to manage Hoffmann’s other newspapers, too, bringing the total number of newspapers under Lee management to about 150.

Still, Bekke emphasizes that Lee and Hoffmann are not seeking uniformity from market to market.

“Local journalism works best when it remains local,” Bekke says. “The goal is to combine the advantages of scale with the strengths of local decision-making and local relationships.

“In many respects,” Bekke says, “that captures why our partnership works. We share a belief that local matters. We share a commitment to the people who do the work. We share a determination to build a sustainable future for local news. And we share confidence that communities across America continue to need — and deserve —strong local journalism.”  

Hoffmann is determined and confident that his mission to save local news and newspapers will succeed. “It’s what I believe, you know?” Hoffmann says. “I believe in newspapers, and I believe in community, and I think in this country and in this world, it’s never been more important.”