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Omaha-World Herald publisher Lee Enterprises gets boost in court ruling

Lee Enterprises owns the Omaha-World Herald
Alden Lee Enterprises
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OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Lee Enterprises' effort to repel a hostile takeover got a boost Tuesday when a judge ruled the newspaper publisher could ignore two director nominations from the Alden Global Capital hedge fund. Lee owns the Omaha World-Herald, Lincoln Journal Star, Council Bluffs-based The Daily Nonpareil along with many other newspapers in Nebraska.

But Alden is taking the ruling in stride and said it will press the fight by with a "Vote No" campaign, urging shareholders to vote against Lee’s Chairman Mary Junck and one other longstanding board member at the company’s upcoming annual meeting on March 10.

Late last year, Lee rejected Alden’s $24 per share offer to buy the company because it said the roughly $141 million bid “grossly undervalues” the publisher of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Tulsa World, Richmond Times-Dispatch and dozens of other newspapers.

On Tuesday, Lee's shares were trading at $37 apiece.

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