Lee Enterprises could be de-listed from NYSE

Posted by Erina Lin on January 8, 2009 at 5:17 PM

With its average share value down below US$1 per share in December 2008, as well as the market capitalisation having dropped to less than $25 million, Lee Enterprises could be de-listed from the New York Stock Exchange, Media Post reported.

From a peak of $14.91, Lee's stock price has held at around $0.50 recently, with the market capitalisation around $16 million.

Lee said the NYSE had warned of a possible de-listing on Dec. 30, but stated that it "has a plan to increase share value and market capitalisation to restore compliance," and would give the NYSE details of this plan by Friday, Jan. 9, according to Media Post.

Lee isn't the only publicly traded newspaper publisher to face possible de-listing in 2008. In April, the Journal Register Co. was de-listed from the New York Stock Exchange with the trading price at four cents a share, Media Post reported.

Lee Enterprises owns mid-sized publications in 53 markets in the United States, including its flagship, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, as well as the Arizona Daily Star (Tucson), Billings Gazette (Montana) and the Wisconsin State Journal (Madison, Wis.), according to Media Post.