By KWMU
St. Louis, MO – Shareholders for St. Louis-based Pulitzer, Inc. approved the company's sale this (Friday) morning to Lee Enterprises, of Davenport, Iowa.
The entire deal is expected to close by the end of business today (Friday).
Lee will acquire Pulitzer's 14 daily newspapers (including the Post-Dispatch and more than 100 non-daily publications
That means the Friday edition of the Post-Dispatch will be the last published by St. Louis-based Pulitzer, Inc. Joseph Pulitzer, who became the namesake for the Pulitzer Prize, first founded the paper 126 years ago and the family has had a stake in the paper ever since.
Iowa-based Lee Enterprises will pay $1.5 billion in the deal.
Pulitzer (now Lee) also operates the Suburban Journals.
Lee already operates 44 dailies in 19 states.
The top management of the Post-Dispatch are mostly staying on at the paper. They concluded a letter on today's editorial page with the line "we treasure our past and are excited about our future."