Lee Enterprises’ TownNews Acquires Digital CMS Business

Lee Enterprises, Incorporated (NYSE: LEE), a leading provider of high quality, trusted, local news, information and a major platform for advertising in 49 markets, announced today that its subsidiary, TownNews, has reached an agreement to purchase the content management system (CMS) business from GTxcel, a Boston-based digital company that provides content management services to more than 200 broadcasters and magazine publishers.

“A big part of our strategy is to accelerate revenue and cash flow growth at TownNews,” said Lee President and Chief Executive Officer Kevin Mowbray. “Revenue at TownNews over the last six months is up more than 30% over prior year, and we believe this acquisition will further accelerate revenue growth. GTxcel’s content management business expands TownNews’ ability to partner with broadcasters, and it further underscores Lee’s commitment to aggressively drive digital revenue,” Mowbray added.

“With the acquisition, we are gaining market share, expanding our service offerings to include WordPress CMS and acquiring staff with expertise in digital development, implementation and sales,” Mowbray said.

The acquisition was funded with cash on the balance sheet. Lee owns 82.5% of TownNews, which provides state-of-the-art web hosting, content management, video and other digital services to nearly 1,800 media outlets. Since 2011, the company has a compound annual growth rate of more than 12%.

ABOUT LEE

Lee Enterprises is a leading provider of local news and information, and a major platform for advertising, with daily newspapers, rapidly growing digital products and nearly 300 weekly and specialty publications serving 49 markets in 20 states. Year to date, Lee's newspapers have average circulation of 0.7 million daily and 1.1 million Sunday, and are estimated to reach more than 2.2 million readers in print alone. Lee's markets include St. Louis, MO; Lincoln, NE; Madison, WI; Davenport, IA; Billings, MT; Bloomington, IL; and Tucson, AZ. Lee Common Stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol LEE. For more information about Lee, please visit www.lee.net.

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