Columnist questions newspaper accounting
Bloomberg columnist Jonathan Weil takes a close look today at the balance sheet of Lee Enterprises, parent company of this website and of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. He notes that Lee’s book value, $1.09 billion on Sept. 30, is almost twice the current market value, and that intangible assets, such as goodwill, account for three-fourths of that book value. Writes Weil:
The market’s message: Big writedowns are needed. And Lee has lots of company.
He also looks at other newspaper companies, including Gannett, McClatchy and Gatehouse Media, and finds similarly that
their balance sheets are still glutted with goodwill and other intangible assets, after years of growing through acquisitions. And their asset values look frothy, as readers and advertisers continue shifting away from print toward online venues.
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David Nicklaus has covered St. Louis business for more than 25 years. His column appears three days a week on the Post-Dispatch business page. 
