Gazprom have purchased the Izvestia newspaper for an estimated fee of $20-25 million. Izvestia will join Gazprom Media’s boutique of television and radio stations.
RIA Novosti (which admittedly isn’t a member of the happy Gazprom Media gang) don’t believe that Izvestia was bought for its profitability:
In any case, for the buyer who is solely interested in profits, a political newspaper cannot be an attractive asset. Such is the current situation on the newspaper market. Therefore, it is foolish to consider the Gazprom purchase of Izvestia as an attempt to increase profits. Another explanation seems to be more plausible – the state monopoly with revenues amounting to billions of dollars simply continues to consolidate its power in the sphere of influential media with the sights set on the future, which includes the 2007 parliamentary elections and the 2008 presidential elections. So, the logic of the Izvestia deal definitely lies in the sphere of big politics.
I couldn’t agree more.
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If you read one of the latest “Expert” or “Company” magazines, I don’t remember which, they listed all Gazprom actives. So, this definetely is a politics move. Was when they bought NTV, and is now. Heck, I didn’t read Izvestia anyway…
BTW, I took a liberty to link to your blog, as it is very interesting.
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