Lee Enterprises to Buy Pulitzer Inc.

Midwest newspaper publisher Lee Enterprises Inc. is buying Pulitzer Inc. for about $1.4 billion in cash, in a deal that would make it the country’s fourth-largest owner of daily newspapers.

Lee, based in Davenport, Iowa, said the $64-a-share purchase would allow it to move into new markets such as St. Louis, where Pulitzer publishes the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

The purchase would increase Lee’s holdings to 58 daily papers in 23 states and raise its total daily circulation to 1.7 million.

The companies said Lee would receive cash and marketable securities from Pulitzer valued at $290 million and assume $306 million in debt.

They expect the deal, which would increase Lee’s revenue by 60%, to close in the second quarter.