Ringier buys majority stake in oldest Serbian magazine
The Swiss media group Ringier has acquired NIN, Serbia's oldest weekly magazine. Founded in 1935, NIN became known after World War II for its literary prize.
The Swiss media group Ringier has bought the oldest Serbian weekly magazine Nedeljne Informativne Novine. Founded in 1935, NIN is 87 percent state-owned. A further 10 percent belongs to the newspaper publisher Politika and the remaining 3 percent to NIN employees. As the Serbian privatization agency announced on Friday, the media group will pay 810,000 euros for a 61.5 percent stake. Ringier also undertook to invest 186,607 euros. The Belgrade tabloid Vecernje novosti was also interested in acquiring the weekly, but only offered 760,000 euros.
The magazine is one of the oldest and most traditional political magazines in Serbia, Ringier wrote in a press release on Friday. It focuses on politics, society, art, science and sport. The Serbian news and political magazine has a circulation of 1.1 million copies, employs 36 people and, according to official figures, achieved a turnover of 1.5 million euros in 2007, as Derstandard.at writes. The profit amounted to 12,000 euros. The magazine became famous after the Second World War thanks to its literary prize.
Ringier has been present on the Serbian media market since 2004, according to Derstandard.at. In addition to Blic, the group also owns the daily newspapers 24 sata and Alo as well as the weekly magazines Blic Plus and Blic zena with a total of 470 employees. According to earlier media reports, the three daily newspapers have a daily circulation of more than 500,000 copies.
The magazine is one of the oldest and most traditional political magazines in Serbia, Ringier wrote in a press release on Friday. It focuses on politics, society, art, science and sport. The Serbian news and political magazine has a circulation of 1.1 million copies, employs 36 people and, according to official figures, achieved a turnover of 1.5 million euros in 2007, as Derstandard.at writes. The profit amounted to 12,000 euros. The magazine became famous after the Second World War thanks to its literary prize.
Ringier has been present on the Serbian media market since 2004, according to Derstandard.at. In addition to Blic, the group also owns the daily newspapers 24 sata and Alo as well as the weekly magazines Blic Plus and Blic zena with a total of 470 employees. According to earlier media reports, the three daily newspapers have a daily circulation of more than 500,000 copies.
