Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway is selling its newspaper business to publisher Lee Enterprises for 140 million USD, according to The Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg TV Bulgaria. The deal is indicative that the billionaire sees this business as unsustainable.

Buffett has said for years that Berkshire Hathaway’s newspaper business is shrinking faster than expected. In mid-2018, Berkshire hired Lee Enterprises to manage all of his newspapers except Buffalo News. The sale, announced Wednesday, includes Buffalo News along with dozens of newspapers that Lee already manages for Berkshire.

Berkshire Hathaway is known for almost never selling its businesses. In a shareholder’s guide on the website says: “No matter the price, we have no interest in selling the good business Berkshire owns”.

As part of the deal, Berkshire will lend 576 million USD to Lee at a 9% interest rate on an annual basis. The buyer will use the money to pay for the acquisition, refinance existing 400 million USD in debt, making Berkshire its sole lender.

Following the deal, Lee Enterprises will manage 81 daily newspapers. Lee expects the deal to immediately increase profits.

Berkshire newspapers have already shrunk significantly. At the end of 2018, 3,685 people were employed in the holding’s division with the Buffalo News, compared to 4,337 a year earlier.

Buffett’s decision to exit the newspaper business underscores the widening divide in the US media between few major national players, including The Wall Street Journal, the New York Times and the Washington Post, and smaller newspapers.

The deal between Berkshire Hathaway and Lee Enterprises is expected to be finalized in mid-March. Lee also announced that they have entered into a 10-year lease of offices for the media group at an initial cost of 8 million USD per year.