The proprietor of Daily Mail is buying the I newspaper and its site for PS50 million. The company has pledged to protect the newspaper’s liberal-minded editorial independence.
The Daily Mail and General Trust (DMGT) is a company that produces The Metro freesheet, stated that the acquisition could improve cashflow as well as provide the opportunity to reduce costs.
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The i, which was once was part from the Independent stable, earned PS11 million in operating cash income and profit of PS34 million in revenues in the year prior. The first time it was released was in 2010 and has since sold 170,000 copies on weekdays in addition to 190,000 copies for weekends, DMGT said.
“We are thrilled to welcome i to our family of media brands. We’re committed to keeping its distinctive, high-quality and politically neutral editorial style,” Viscount Rothermere, the chairman of DMGT stated.
The agreement that will have to be approved through the Competition and Markets Authority, is the latest in a string of defensive agreements in an industry that is still grappling to adapt from the physical world to digital. Newspaper publishers have been in a state of shock by the transfer of advertising revenue towards Google and Facebook and has led to consolidation between owners of regional newspapers.
The I has been on an list of auctions since it’s previous proprietor, Johnston Press, fell into administration last year. The company collapsed under burden of the PS220 million debt load and was taken over by its creditors. They have renamed the business JPI Media and are carving out its assets.
Its fate for its regional newspapers, which comprised The Yorkshire Post and Sunderland Echo was plunged into doubt early this morning when Reach The publisher behind The Mirror and Express newspapers, announced that it was pulling out of talks to buy the newspapers. “We were not convinced that the deal would bring the value we expected. We are responsible to our shareholders as well as our pension plan,” Jim Mullen, the chief executive officer of Reach Reach said.
The genesis of DMGT dates back to 1896, when the Harmsworth brothers Alfred Harmsworth and Harold Harmsworth printed the first issue of Daily Mail. DMGT is owned by Lord Rothermere 51, who is a descendant from Harold Harmsworth, who controls the majority of the voting rights within the company that is quoted.
Its media arm, which includes its Daily Mail, The Mail on Sunday, Metro and the Mail Online website, accounts for 47 percent of its turnover. It is a diverse collection of companies, offering specialized information to the property, insurance education, energy, and finance industries.
Lord Rothermere declared that the purchase could be “strategically and financially compelling”. It was “scope for potential synergies in the future” from the DMGT’s “existing infrastructure and in advertising sales”, he said.
