Ringier Publishing House Kft will stop the publication of nationwide daily broadsheet Magyar Hírlap this Friday (Nov. 5), after talks with various potential investors and investment groups fell through, the company announced at a press conference last Friday. The company said its Swiss parent, Ringier AG, refused to continue financing the paper’s loss-making operation.
“Since 2001, Magyar Hirlap has generated more than Ft 1.5 billion of losses. With the current market trends, these are unlikely to be recouped in the foreseeable future,” said Béla Papp, managing director of the local Ringier.
“We have been in talks with financial and professional investors alike, but unfortunately we could not reach an agreement with either of them before the deadline this Friday [Oct. 29],” he added.
Papp declined to disclose the names of potential investors, or the title’s potential selling price, citing confidentiality. However, according to the BBJ’s information, OTP Bank Rt chairman-CEO Sándor Csányi is one of the investors that have been in talks with the publisher.
According to Papp, the Swiss parent company originally intended to close down the paper in the summer. The publisher will, however, finance the last week of operation of the paper, and will keep publishing the newspaper’s affiliated magazines, such as the Magyar Hírlap Top100 list about the 100 richest Hungarians.
“We hope to attract an investor in the last week of operation,” Papp said, adding that he already received some “inquiring phone calls.”
Ringier bought the title from fellow Swiss media giant Marquard Media Group in December 2000. Since then, the publisher has tried to modernize the daily, along with continuous efforts to cut costs.
According to the paper’s figures, it managed to improve its revenues, but not enough to cover costs. Overall sales figures for nationwide broadsheets have been continuously declining since 1995, according to the Hungarian Distribution Monitoring Association (Matesz).
Besides Magyar Hírlap, Ringier’s portfolio includes a majority ownership in Népszabadság Rt, publisher of the leading nationwide broadsheet of the same name.
Ringier’s legal dispute with the Competition Office over whether the company is in a dominant position on the newspaper market because of its part in Népszabadság, besides publishing tabloid Blikk and sports daily Nemzeti Sport, is pending at the Budapest Municipal Court.
According to Matesz, Magyar Hírlap sold 28,155 copies daily in Q2, 2004.
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02.11.2004