It also circulated daily throughout all of Iowa, and in parts of Kansas, South Dakota, Missouri, Colorado, and Wyoming.

It retrenched during the financial crisis of 2008, ending far-flung circulation[2] and restricting daily delivery to an area in Nebraska and Iowa within an approximately 100-mile radius of Omaha.

The newspaper was the world's last to print both daily morning and afternoon editions, a practice it ended in March 2016.

In 2011, Omaha native Warren Buffett purchased the paper for $200 million through his holding company, Berkshire Hathaway.

The ABC affiliate, which the newspaper brought[18] to air on Sept. 15, 1957, was broadcast on Channel 7 under the call letters KETV.

Former U.S. Secretary of State, U.S. Rep. and three-time presidential candidate William Jennings Bryan, a Democrat and onetime member of the Populist Party, was its editor in 1894–1896.

In 1962, the World Publishing Company, owned solely by heirs of the Hitchcock/Doorly families, was on the verge of selling The World-Herald to the Newhouse chain, but instead accepted an offer from local construction magnate Peter Kiewit.

[26] When he died, Kiewit left provisions in his will to ensure that the paper would remain locally owned, with a large part of the plan securing employee ownership.

[27] On May 8, 1974, the World-Herald was the first[28] paper in the United States to call for Richard Nixon to resign after the full content of the White House tapes became known.

Most significantly, the newspaper was the lead in the landmark 1976 Supreme Court case Nebraska Press Association vs. Stuart, which was seen[32] as one of the "Big Three" cases pertaining to the press and freedom of speech: The others were New York Times Co. vs. Sullivan and New York Times Co. vs. the United States.

As for its case, The World-Herald was said to be "adamant[33]" about taking the issue all the way to the Supreme Court after a Nebraska judge, Hugh Stuart, had tried to implement a gag order on reporting the details of a local criminal trial.

"The press does not simply publish information about trials, but guards against the miscarriage of justice by subjecting the police, prosecutors, and judicial processes to extensive public scrutiny and criticism," he said in the opinion.

The World-Herald Co. during the 1980s and 1990s substantially expanded its business from its sole newspaper: In 1990 it purchased the Brookings Register and Huron Plainsman in South Dakota for an undisclosed price.

In 1994, it purchased The Record in Stockton, California, for an undisclosed price; it sold[37] the newspaper in 2004 to Dow Jones, publisher of The Wall Street Journal, for $144 million.

In 1999, it purchased the Ames Tribune in Iowa for an undisclosed price from former NBC News President Michael Gartner.

In January 2020, Lee Enterprises announced an agreement with Berkshire Hathaway to acquire BH Media Group's publications and The Buffalo News for $140 million.

In 2006, the company purchased the 16-story former Northwestern Bell/Qwest Communications building in downtown Omaha as a new base for its news, editorial, circulation and business operations.