Source says Lee Enterprises could cut up to 10% of payroll this year; Lee confirms that more cuts are coming

UPDATE, May 6: Lee reported a $6.7 million loss in the second quarter while making progress on the digital front: a 9.3% gain in digital subscribers, ahead of its previously announced schedule to double them to 900,000 by 2026. It said growth in digital revenue more than made up for losses from print.

Lee Enterprises has laid off dozens of employees over the past two weeks, and is expected to lay off more than 400 employees this year, as much as 10 percent of its workforce, says an anonymous source familiar with the matter, report Sara Fischer and Kerry Flynn of Axios. The company, which recently staved off a hostile takeover bid from hedge fund Alden Global Capital, "is one of the last remaining independent local newspaper companies," they note. "With these drastic and ongoing cuts, journalists are left to wonder whether a hedge fund takeover could have been better than staying independent," 

Lee has already laid off at least 70 staffers—many of them in editorial—and implemented other cost-cutting measures such as furloughs during the pandemic. The predicted layoffs could come from at least 19 of Lee's 77 dailies and from its corporate offices, Fischer and Flynn report.

A company spokesperson didn't deny the cuts, and told Axios that they were necessary as the company continues its "print-centric" to "digital-first" transition. "These reductions are specifically tied to our legacy print business and in areas where we can become more efficient through business transformation," the spokesperson said, adding that the company isn't planning at this time to lay off any reporters or photographers.

However, many of the employees who were already laid off have been editors and editorial staffers. "Many of the roles that have been cut across those unionized newsrooms have been non-union employees. Many are middle managers," Fischer and Flynn report. "Sources describe scenarios where they are laid off, only to have their same role re-posted online for less money."