The CEO and Treasurer of Lee Enterprises is receiving a hefty bonus despite the company's recent exit from bankruptcy and a billion dollar debt load.Lee owns the Southern Illinoisan and more than 40 other daily newspapers. An SEC filing shows Lee Enterprises CEO and Chair Mary Junck received a half a million dollar bonus and Vice President, Treasurer, and Chief Financial Officer Carl Schmidt received a quarter million dollars in discretionary bonuses approved by Lee's board.
The payouts come as Lee exits bankruptcy still owing a billion dollars in debt. The prepackaged filing allowed refinancing of the debt at higher interest rates and eliminated 13% of shareholder value. It did stave off auditor and analyst concerns that Lee would not be able to continue as a business. Lee publishes dozens of newspapers including the Bloomington Pantagraph, Decatur Herald and Review, and the Saint Louis Post-Dispatch.
Lee's stock price has also fallen from nearly fifty dollars eight years ago to just above a dollar now. Lee also recently chose to outsource Pantagraph printing operations, trimming a few more jobs from Bloomington-Normal.